Red Currant Jam
Ingredients
- 1 qt 900g red currant
- 2 1/4 cups 510g sugar
- 1/4 cup 59ml water
Instructions
- Wash the currants and remove them from their stems.*
- Sterilize your canning jars.
- While the jars are sterilizing, put the red currants and water in a large, non-reactive pot (no cast iron unless it is enameled, and no aluminum). Gently crush the currants with a potato masher or the bottom of a wine bottle. Add the sugar. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the sugar is completely dissolved, raise the heat to high and boil, stirring often, until the jam reaches the gel point. Remove the red currant jam from the heat and skim off any foam that has formed on the surface.
- If the jam reaches the gel point before the jars are sterilized, simply remove the jam from the heat until the jars are ready. Reheat the jam just barely back to a simmer before filling the jars.
- Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars leaving 1/4 to 1/2-inch headspace. Screw on canning lids. You can simply allow the jars to cool and then store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 months. For longer-term storage at room temperature, process the jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.
Testing Homemade Jellies for the Gel Point
- Knowing When to Stop the Boil to Create the Perfect Jelly
- When cooking down the ingredients to make jelly, the hardest part of ensuring your ingredients cool to a nice jell is knowing when to remove them from heat. If you get it right, you'll wind up with a batch of delicious preserves for your family, but if you get it wrong, you'll end up with a mixture that's more like syrup or candy.
- In theory, you can use a candy thermometer to check when the jelly's temperature reaches 220 F (at sea level), but that's not always the most reliable way to ensure your jelly is ready to cool.
- Fortunately, there are other methods for testing jelly. Descriptions of how to do a jelly "sheet test," "spoon test," or "wrinkle test" can seem mysterious if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Let's demystify those methods so that you can make jelly with confidence.
The Early Stage of Making Jelly
- During the early stage of cooking jelly, the liquid is visible while it boils. It's nowhere near ready yet. You'll need to let the liquid boil until it becomes one gelatinous liquid with no separate liquid visible boiling to the surface.
- Once you've established that the liquid is condensed into one form, then (and only then) you should apply the sheet or spoon test, but the temperature of the liquid is likely to be below 220 F at this point in the process.
The Sheet or Spoon Test
- When you're satisfied with the consistency of your jelly, dip a large spoon into the boiling pot and lift it about 18 inches above the pot to pour the liquid jelly out all at once. What you're looking for is the very last bit of jelly to come off the spoon. During the early stage of cooking, the last bit will pour off in a single drop.
When the Jelly Foams Up It's Almost Ready
- As it gets near the gel point, bubbles will cover the entire surface of the boiling jelly and start to climb up the sides of the pot. This is when you know your ingredients have condensed into one liquid form and are just about ready to set. Temperatures inside the liquid should be in the 220 F range no matter where you stick the candy thermometer.
Do Another Spoon Test
- When the jelly is almost done, the last bit of liquid jelly will come off the spoon in two drops rather than one. This means that the jelly has already begun to form into a new jellylike compound and should theoretically be ready to take off the heat and let cool in your jelly molds. Still, you should apply the sheet test to make sure it's fully ready.
Test the Jelly Until It Sheets off the Spoon
- When the jelly is ready, the last drops pouring off the spoon will run together and "sheet" off the spoon. What you want to look for at this stage is the absence of large droplets replaced by these amorphous globs instead. Once the liquid no longer pours off in drops but slides off in sheets, you're ready to apply the final test: the wrinkle test.
The Wrinkle Test for Jelly
- In order to apply the wrinkle test, have a small plate in the freezer while you are cooking the jelly. When you think it is done (based on the spoon test or temperature), place a small amount of jelly on the plate and return the plate to the freezer for a minute. If the jelly wrinkles when you push it with your finger, it is done.
Notes
Red Currant Jam
Currants naturally possess a perfect combination of pectin and acidity, which ensures a good gel without the need to add commercial pectin. The result is a delicious jam with a color as brilliant as that of the fruit. This is a small batch recipe because currants can be both difficult to find and expensive unless you grow your own. But if you are blessed with an abundance of them, by all means, double the recipe.Tips
- *Freeze the currants, still on their stems, before the first step. It will be easier to remove them from the stems when they are frozen. No need to thaw the fruit before proceeding with the recipe.
- Keep in mind that as with all jams, red currant jam will firm up as it cools. It will still be somewhat runny while it is still hot.
- Jars of red currant jam that have been processed in a boiling water bath will keep, unopened, for up to one year. The jam is still safe to eat after that, but the quality will decline. Once opened, store the jars in the refrigerator just as you would with store-bought jams.
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