Red Currant Jelly
Red currant jelly comes together with just two ingredients ~ fruit and sugar. Since the currants are naturally high in pectin and acidic, there's no need to add lemon juice or commercial pectin.
Servings: 4 half pint (8 oz) jars
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups red currant juice from 4lbs fruit, about 16 cups, unstemmed
- 4 cups sugar
Instructions
- Place the unstemmed red currants into a saucepan with water (1/2 cup per pound or 2 cups total for this recipe). Bring the fruit to a boil, mashing the fruit to encourage the red currants to release their juices. Simmer 1-2 minutes and turn off the heat.
- Pour the fruit pulp into a jelly bag (or cheesecloth-lined strainer) and allow the mixture to drip for several hours (or overnight). Squeezing the bag will result in a higher yield, but might affect the jelly clarity (it didn't affect mine, I squeezed).
- Measure the resulting juice. For each cup of red currant juice, add 1 cup sugar.
- (Optional) If canning, prepare a water bath canner.
- Place the juice/sugar mixture into a jelly pot and bring to a boil on high heat. Boil hard for 5-10 minutes, until the jelly is set. (Test for set on a plate that's been placed in the freezer, see picture above. Or, test for the gel stage with an instant-read thermometer. The gel stage is 220 degrees F at sea level. See notes for higher altitudes.)
- When the jelly reaches gel stage, remove from heat and pour into jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
- For a refrigerator jam, cap and allow the jars to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator for use within a month.
- If canning, cap with 2 part canning lids and process the jars in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the jars to sit in the canner for 5 more minutes before removing to cool on a towel on the counter. After 24 hours, check seals and store unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use. Sealed jars can be stored in the pantry for 12-18 months.
Notes
The temperature for gel stage is 8 degrees above the boiling point of water, or 220 degrees F at sea level. That drops by a degree for every 500 feet above sea level. For example, I'm at 1000 feet elevation, so my finish temperature is 218 F.
For a low sugar redcurrant jelly, you can reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup per cup of juice. It'll be tart, yields will be reduced, and you'll need to cook the jelly longer (15-20 minutes).