If you’ve tasted both blackcurrants and red currants, it’s hard to believe they’re related. Blackcurrants have a deep, astringent flavor reminiscent of a dry wine. Red currants, on the other hand, are bright, light and quite sweet. Blackcurrant jam is a rarity in the US, and a treasure to find, but red currant jam is almost non-existent.
Red currants are finding their way into backyard gardens, and their beauty is hard to resist at farmer’s markets. Since your corner grocery likely doesn’t carry red currant jam, you can buy it online for $10 a jar or get out your jam pot and make your own. The unique flavor of red currant jam is worth the extra effort.
Red currants are delicious eaten out of hand, but they aren’t sold in supermarkets. The fruits are soft-skinned and fragile. It’s almost impossible to pick them without bruising them, and removing their stems often pulverizes them.
If you find red currants in pint baskets at the farmer’s market, they’ll still have stems attached in fruit clusters because that gives them an extra few days of shelf life. It also saves the farmer a lot of work.
Still, even with stems attached, their days are numbered.
Once you get a basket of red currants home, it’s best to use them up that same day. There’s no guarantee that they’ll make it to tomorrow, and they’re definitely doomed by the end of the week.
If you’re growing currants in your backyard, plucking whole clusters is also the best strategy. If you try to stem these beauties in the field, you’ll lose more berries than stems.
Once you do get them in the house, hand stemming is optional. If you want seedless jam, you can skip the stemming step altogether.
I’m one of those strange people that really likes the seeds in jam. I want to feel the toothsome bite of a piece of fruit in my jam, and I’ve never minded a seedy jam.
Red currant jam is usually seedless, and the berries, stems and all, are run through a food mill or chinois sieve to separate the meat from the seeds and stems. That method is much easier, especially for larger quantities of red currants.
Since I want to keep the seeds in my jam, I hand stem the red currants. Feel free to use a food mill and save yourself a good bit of tedious work.
Your jam will be smooth and seedless, as many people prefer it. If you want to keep the chunks, grab a glass of lemonade and take a seat on the porch and get to work.
Either way, once the red currants hit the pot, you’re only a few minutes away from a finished jam. While homemade blackcurrant jam needs about 30 minutes of simmering and tending before it’ll set up, red currant jam is ready in about 5 minutes, no pectin needed.
Add a tiny bit of liquid (water or juice) to the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching, and then add the red currants. For the first minute, it’ll look like currants floating in juice, but once it gets going it sets up fast.
As the fruit begins to boil, add in sugar to your taste. Many recipes call equal amounts of fruit and sugar by weight.
For every pound of stemmed currants, they add in a full pound of sugar. While I do this for astringent blackcurrants, sweet and bright red currants don’t need that much sweetness in my opinion.
I generally add about 1/4 pound of sugar per pound of fruit for a tart jam. A 1/4 pound of sugar leads to a quite tart jam, and that may be too much for most palates.
A half-pound is probably more appropriate for most people accustomed to a homemade real food diet. That said, if you love the sweetness of store-bought jam, go ahead and add in the fruit and sugar in a 1 to 1 ratio.
I’ve written the recipe using a 2:1 fruit to sugar because it’s appropriate for a wider audience. The amount of sugar in the recipe does not change the process, and it’s not necessary to safely can currant jam. It’s your jam, you decide.
Once the jam begins to thicken, it may trace in the pan. If there’s a lot of currants in your batch, the trace may not be as obvious as the picture above.
When you run a spoon through the jam, it’ll look thick and the sugars will begin to candy. The bubbles will change, and instead of looking like water, it’ll look a good deal more like boiling syrup.
At that point, take it off the heat. Red currants have a lot of natural pectin and they’ll set hard if overcooked. My batch simmered for no more than 5 minutes before reaching a stiff gel once cooled.
If you’d like to test the gel of your jam, place a plate in the freezer and dollop a bit on the frozen plate to flash cool it. Once it’s cool, you’ll be able to see the finished texture.
This is a small batch recipe, for just a single half-pint jar. It’s made with a single farmer’s market pint of currants, which usually contains 2 to 2 1/2 cups of fruit. That works out to right about a pound.
We grow our own currants and I make bigger batches, but I know backyard currants are not as common these days. If you do have more fruit, feel free to use 4 to 6 pounds per batch. Too much more than that and it’ll be hard to prevent scorching.
Red Currant Jam
Red currant jam is quick and easy to make at home. Leave the seeds in for a chunky jam, or sieve them out, your choice.
Ingredients
- 1 pound red currants roughly one heaping pint
- 1/2 pound sugar roughly 1 cup, adjust to taste
Instructions
-
Prepare the red currants by either stemming them by hand to retain their seeds, or running them through a food mill to remove their stems and seeds.
-
Place the fruit in a saucepan with a tiny bit of water (or lemon juice if you prefer). Bring to a simmer.
-
Add sugar to the pot and stir to dissolve. Feel free to add between 1/2 cup and 2 full cups of sugar based on your own tastes.
-
Simmer the jam for about 5 minutes until it begins to set.
-
Ladle into sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator, or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
Recipe Notes
One pound of fruit yields roughly 1 half-pint jar of jam. This recipe can be made with 4 to 6 pounds of fruit per batch for larger quantities.
Arsenio
Where can red currant berries ir juice be bought in nj?
Ashley Adamant
The only place I’ve seen red currants (other than homegrown) is at farmer’s markets. I can’t speak for NJ specifically though.
Kim
I’m not sure where you are in NJ but I picked some up last weekend in Brooklyn. The Russian markets at Brighton beach had tons of them.
Patrick
Thank you for sharing your insight into currants, jams and all things related. I grew up in Michigan, but have lived my adult life in Tennessee. While growing currants here is a bit of a challenge (summer heat) I’ve planted one black, one pink and one red. It has been a couple of years trial and error gardening, but the bushes are coming along nicely. I’m saving your article and recipe for the future.
Ashley Adamant
In Vermont, even though it’s not that hot, the only grow well in shade. Ours are sandwiched between the house and the woods, on the east side of the house near a creek. They only get a short bit of morning sun, and then spend the day in cool shade. Anywhere else and the leaves turn brown in the sun. Enjoy the jam!
Ingrid
I live in southern Ontario in Canada and have some trouble with sawflies on my red currant bushes. I have sprayed them with soap and water and they have greatly reduced. I have a large crop this year. Some leaves are yellow and damaged which I think is from the flies. Any advice for pruning and how to prevent them? We have had unusually wet spring and now some very hot days. My bushes get about 4 hours of sun and rest of day in the shade.
Megan
My red current bushes finally made enough currents to do something with (other than munch on while in the yard). I had 1/2 lbs and combined them with 1/2 lbs wild black raspberries and made an amazing pint of jam!
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful!
Scott A McInnis
I’ve been making currant jam (both red and black) for 60 years. I prefer the lower sugar as I like the tartness. These jams are superb not only on bread but make a superior condiment with meats and poultry. I grew up in Michigan where currants grow well but now live in Colorado at 7,000 feet and the higher elevation is cool enough for the bushes to thrive in part shade. We got 14 lbs from two red currant bushes this year.
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful!
Patrick
Scott, I am excited for you and your bounty of currants. I also grew up in Michigan, but I’ve been a Tennesseean over half my life. I live in the Northeast corner of the state. I try to grow and nurture bushes here, but it is a struggle with our summer temperatures. Some years I get enough to make a single jar of Jam/Jelly and others…not so much. Good for you, I enjoyed reading about your experience.
Katie Carter
Hi everyone! Ive had currants growing on my ranch for years and just figured out what they are! So glad to have discovered them. I live at 7,000 feet elevation in colorado as well and they grow in the shade beautifully. This jam is sooooo delicious and I love the comment earlier about using it with poultry and meats! Definitely!
Administrator
That’s great! Thanks so much for sharing.
Winifred Hutton
I have made currant jam for the last 3 yrs. I use the currants from both the black and red bushes combined. Because of the naturally high pectin content, jam making is easy. My husband prefers little to no seeds so this year I have used the hand rotary food mill press. There is nothing better than homemade jam. We live in Southwestern Ontario in Canada and this year went from winter into summer in less than a month. But as a whole, our temps are great for gardening. .everyone enjoy your jam. Thank you for the refresher on jam.
Admin
You’re right, there’s little better than homemade jam! I’m glad you liked the recipe!
Melissa
First year for Red Currants!! And I’m sure not the last! Quick question…can I leave the blossom ends on? I saw a site that said you had to remove the black currant blossom ends…
Administrator
I don’t believe it’s necessary to remove the blossom ends on the red currants. As a matter of fact most of the sources that I am seeing say it isn’t necessary for the black either.