Delicious Red Currant Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Take the currants at the height of their season, the finest that can be had, free from dust, but gathered on a dry day.
Strip the currants with great care from the stalks.
Make the jam
Weigh the currants and put them into a preserving pan with three pounds of the best sugar reduced to powder, to four pounds of the fruit.
Stir the mixture gently over a brisk clear fire.
Do not fill the pan more than two-thirds to prevent overflow.
Boil the mixture quickly for exactly eight minutes from the first full boil.
If the jam rises over the top, lift it from the fire and hold it away for an instant.
For a finer jam, use equal weight of fruit and sugar boiled together for seven minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Red currants
- Provide the tart fruit flavour and the pectin that helps the jam set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks.
The step that matters
Boiling for exactly eight minutes. Boiling too long or too little changes the set and flavour; a quick, timed boil at full heat sets the jam while keeping the fruit's fresh colour and taste.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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