Simple and perfect recipe for homemade red currant jam. Requiring only these 3 ingredients: fruit, sugar and pectin. These three ingredients will guarantee your summer fruit will be locked safely in small jars for you to enjoy any time of the year.
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It is summer and there is abundance of all the fresh fruits everywhere. You name it, apricots, raspberries, blueberries, cherries and more… so why not to preserve the summer and lock the summer feeling in small jars. And today we are going to make red currant jam!
What is red currant ?
I have chosen to make my jam from red currant fruit. Red currant is a small, round shaped berries with sour (tart) & very little sweet taste (see picture above). This fruit is very particular in taste and is more known in Europe continent. I was lucky enough to get a small bush 20 years ago from my friends. And now I am cultivating this amazing fruit here in Canada myself. Until today’s date, I was able to grown 3 red currants bushes, 3 white currants bushes and 1 black currant bush. All three makes fantastic fruit jam.
What is jam?
Jam is a fruit spread, that you can spread on your toast, bread, baguette or add it to your cakes, smoothies or ice creams. Jam is made from cooked fruit with sugar and pectin powder. Pectin is usually a naturally occurring starch found in some fruits, and it helps to thicken our jams. Some fruit jams do not require an addition of pectin, because these fruits have enough of pectin on its own; for example apples, blackberries, cranberries, gooseberries, grapes, lemons, plums, etc.
Any other fruit needs addition of pectin. I use pectin in jam recipes mainly for better consistency, to save my time and when using pectin, I don’t worry about storing my jam in my pantry for longer periods of time.
Ingredients
Red currants – washed & stemmed. You can use any kind of fruit. If you decide using larger fruit, cut them in small pieces.
Granulated sugar – precisely measured.
Dr.Oetker Gelfix 2:1 – this is a brand I use for canning fruit. It is pectin in powdered form.
How to make perfect red currant jam
The process of making a jam
Prepare these tools: Scale or measuring cups, large cooking pot, wooden spoon and little jars with lids.
Ingredients: Cleaned and stemmed fruit (in this case red-currant), granulated sugar, pectin.
Sterilize the jars: First things first; before you start making your jam, you have to wash your the jars (including lids) in soapy water. Then boil water in a kettle and pour this boiling water into the jars, completely to the top. Place the lids in a small bowl and pour boiling water on them as well. Let the water cool in the jars, meanwhile you will be preparing the jam.
Cooking the jam: Measure the ingredients in advance and then start cooking the jam. For this recipe I used powdered pectin on Dr. Oetker Gelfix 2:1 pectin brand, which allows me to use 8 cups (1 kilogram) of berries with 2 cups of sugar (this jam comes out sweet but not overly sweet). If you are buying a different brand of pectin, simply follow the recipe on the label.
FAQ
Usually with pectin called in this recipe, you don’t need to worry about the consistency, as long as you follow up the recipe, your jam will be perfectly thick. But to make 100% sure that the jam will be thick enough, once poured in jars, you can do this quick test: take 1 teaspoon of made jam, spread it onto a plate and wait 2 minutes or until it cools down. If the jam sticks to the plate and is not running, it means it’s done. If it’s still runny, either cook for another 5–10 minutes longer or add 2 tsp of pectin.
Yes, this recipe is working with any kind of fruit: strawberries, blueberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, you name it.
More recipes
- BUBBLE CAKE WITH RED CURRANT FRUIT
- HOMEMADE PEACH JAM
- LINZER COOKIES WITH RED CURRANT JAM
- HOMEMADE BREAD IN A DUTCH OVEN
- HOLIDAY SWEET BRAIDED BREAD
How to make Red Currant Jam
Equipment
- 1 large cooking pot
- 12 4oz jars
Ingredients
- 8 cups red currant washed, stemmed
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 pkg Dr.Oetker Gelfix 2:1 or pectin
- 2 teaspoons of sugar extra to mix with pectin
Instructions
- In a large cooking pot, add 8 cups of cleaned and stemmed red currant. Set aside.
- In a small bowl mix the powder Dr. Oetker Gelfix 2:1 with 2 teaspoons of sugar and mix it into the fruit.
- Place the cooking pot with the fruit on the stove over medium-high heat. Simmer the fruit on medium-high heat for about 1 minute, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
- Add 2 cups of sugar to the cooking pot, stir and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Take the cooking pot off the heat and pour the jam immediately into the sterilized jars.
- Once the jars are filled with jam, put on lids, tighten and turn the jars upside down for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, turn them back, standing lids up.
- Let the filled jars cool for about 2 hours. Now you can start enjoying the red currant jam on your favourite toast or baguette.
- Store the jam in cupboards or pantry for up to 1 year. Once the jar is opened, it must be refrigerated and consumed within 3 weeks.
Notes
Pin this recipe for later!
mistimaan
Its too yummy
juliarecipes
Thank you😃