Redcurrants Galore!

LashyLashla

Hi all,

My redcurrants are well and truly ready at my new house and i have just picked 1 kilo of them but have no idea what to do with them. We have been picking and eating for a few days but i feel i want to cook with these as there is a tub full.

Never used them before so any recipes would be very gratefully recieved.

Lashy

thriftlady_2

Let me guess, you're not in the UK are you ?

One of my favourite things to do with my meagre redcurrant crop is to simply put them in a dish, sprinkle with sugar and leave for a few hours. The sugar 'cooks' the currants. I serve this with cream and meringues, or over a plain cake.

Try mixing the sugary currants with whipped cream and churning in an ice cream-maker -if you have one obviously.

Mix the currants with other berries -raspberries and blackcurrants for preference and make summer pudding .

Redcurrant jelly is delicious too.

champys

Lashy - the currants 'cooked in sugar' as mentioned above are also delicious on vanilla ice cream - my favourite!
we have a german neighbour who makes a very good redcurrant liqueur. otherwise apart from jelly you can also use them for jam - and they are very good added to jams made with other fruits because their high pectine level.
what i do myself when i have too much of a glut is extract the juice in a steam juicer (but although these are common in france, germany and belgium, they are virtually unknown in the UK so not sure about australia).

LashyLashla

:hello: Thanks Thriftlady i am in Australia so yes, just a little outside the UK but i know my mum grows them in her garden in the UK.

I like the idea of sugaring them... yum...

I do have an ice cream maker, but not a stitch of room in the freezer for it :rotfl:

Loads more to pick at the weekend so i want to keep on top of them

Lashy

Little_Belle

Never one to pass up free food I have been given a large bag of red currants. Only thing is apart from eating them fresh I've never done anything else with them. I certainly couldn't eat the whole bag before they went rotten unless i needed an excuse to sit on the warm wooden seat for a couple of days without moving!

Anyway, I know that some people have red currant jam with meat but i am not a fan of doing that *bleurgh* fruit and meat should not be mixed IMO

So my question is what can i do with my bounty? I could make jam I guess but I only have one spare jam jar (never made R.C. Jam before though?) any ideas for my freezer? / would the jam taste alright on toast? (stupid question i know)

Thanks xx

Pink.

Hi Little_Belle,

They are lovely mixed with raspberries in a pie or crumble and great added to fruit salads at this time of year. I had redcurrant sorbet once and it was delicious.

There are a couple of ideas on this thread:

Redcurrants Galore!

I'll add your thread to that one later to keep the replies together.

Pink

ragz_2

Just wondering if anyone else has any redcurrant ideas as I too have a glut of them in my garden.
Also, can I just freeze them as they are until I think of something?

Dazi

I can remember in the dark ages, when I was about 7, my dad used to cook them and seive them and then we had the juice on our cornflakes instead of milk. Sounds yuk, but when I was 7 this was a real treat:rotfl:I would imagine this was due to the large amount of sugar he put in. :eek:

Caterina

If any of you has spare fruit growing in their garden and genuinely too much of it and don't know what to do, why not put it on Freecycle or give to a neighbour? I would sure appreciate an offer of free produce, I know my neighbours love it when I share my spare veg from my garden.

thriftlady_2

ragz wrote: »

Also, can I just freeze them as they are until I think of something?

Absolutely. They freeze really well I always have bags of currants and other berries in my freezer waiting for inspiration.

Penelope_Penguin

Adding about 10% by weight to raspberries when making jam, means that the jam will keep its bright red colour, rather than going darker :j It's to do with the acid in the currants

Penny. x