Making blackcurrant jelly at home is simple and straightforward. With just blackcurrants, sugar, and pectin, you can make a batch of this delicious jelly right in your kitchen. Our blackcurrant jelly recipe stands out by omitting water and reducing the sugar content by 15% compared to the traditional 1:1 fruit-to-sugar ratio in blackcurrant preserves.
Course: Jelly
Cuisine: European
Keyword: blackcurrant jelly at home, blackcurrant jelly recipe
Ingredients
3lb.blackcurrants1,360 g.
2.5lb.sugar1,150 g.
2 ½tsp.pectin
Instructions
Preparing the blackcurrants:
Place blackcurrants into a large pot or a salad spinner. Then, fill a pot or salad spinner with water and let the berries soak in cold water for about 5 minutes. This helps loosen debris and stuck leaves and makes them float to the surface. Rinse the blackcurrants.
Repeat the previous step until the water runs clear.
Don’t worry about removing stems or blossom ends. We will not be using the stewed fruit in this blackcurrant preserve.
Rendering the blackcurrant juices:
Place blackcurrants into a suitably sized pot and add roughly half of the sugar.
Use a potato masher to mash the berries with the sugar.
Cover the pot and let it sit for at least 8 hours or overnight. This allows the sugar to draw out the juices from the blackcurrants, a key ingredient in making a blackcurrant jelly.
Cooking the Syrup:
After the resting period, you should see plenty of blackcurrant juices in the pot. Bring the blackcurrants and their juices to a boil over medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar.
Don’t worry about skimming the foam at this step.
Once boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat and use a fine mesh strainer to strain the blackcurrant juices into a separate pot. This juice will be the base of your syrup. You can discard the blackcurrants or better yet, use them to make a delicious summer drink that we told you about in our post.
Making the Blackcurrant Jelly:
First, mix the remaining sugar and pectin. Set aside. We’ll use it to make jelly in this step.
Next, pour the strained blackcurrant juice back into the pot and bring it to a boil.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let the liquid simmer for 10 more minutes.
As the liquid simmers, remove any impurities forming on its surface.
Add sugar and pectin mixture to the cooking blackcurrant jelly liquid. Then mix vigorously to ensure that sugar and pectin are well incorporated into the jelly mixture.
Cook for an additional 15 minutes. If desired, perform a chilled plate test to make sure you are happy with the jelly consistency. Cook for 5-10 minutes more if you like your jelly denser.
Pour the hot jelly into clean, sterilized canning jars.
Process the jars using your preferred canning method.