What to do with black currants?

[McKay]

A friend is out of town and invited me to help myself to her black currants.  There were 2 quarts.  Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.  One thought is to freeze them to add to smoothies later on.  Jelly may be a possibility, but I think I'd need to get cheese cloth for the process.

 

Do these get added to muffins or put into pancake batter like blueberries?

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

[Tanaqui]

Honestly, I'd sooner toss 'em in the compost. I hate those things!

 

Now red currants, yum, I could eat them all day!

 

LOL. If you do like them, you can use them like blueberries, I guess. They're a little juicier, it seems to me, so you might have to alter your cooking somewhat. You might try making a compote with plenty of sugar, that's a simple way to use them up and a nice dessert if you like black currants. Or you can make a simple currant sauce for duck or lamb or something rich like that.

[Liz CA]

Make Black Currant Cordial!  :)

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/01/make-your-own-blackcurrant-cordial

Edited July 2, 2016 by Liz CA

[fairfarmhand]

Was it currant wine that Anne Shirley gave to her bosom friend Diana and got her totally smashed?

 

 

[Tangerine]

HA!  My first thought was currant wine.  I believe it was RED currant wine, but for heaven's sake label it well so you don't mix it up with your cordial.

[marisolstice]

Muffins! That's what we do with them.And they are like cilantro...you either love em or hate em.

[Melissa in Australia]

we make black current cordial. non alcoholic

 what I do is chuck them into a big pot, cover them with water and add about 2 cups of sugar. heat up until just boiling then remove form heat and let sit. then I strain them through some muslin, pout it into soft drink bottles and freeze it.

 to drink it you pour a little bit into a glass and add water. you might have to experiment with exactly how much to add into the glass as different people like different strengths.. I use this recipe for mulberries, plums and black currents. I got the recipe form a 100 year old recipe book. The freezing part I added.

[Liz CA]

Was it currant wine that Anne Shirley gave to her bosom friend Diana and got her totally smashed?

 

Yes, I think so. ;)

[Jane Elliot]

I love black currants. Of everything we have growing on our farm, they are my favorite. They have such a deep, happy flavor and smell like home to me when they're cooking.

 

Black currants have a lot of pectin, so you can make wonderful jam, jelly, or syrup with no added pectin or thickener -- just the berries and sugar. There are a lot of recipes online for this.

 

My favorite recipe is the cassis from the cookbook The Cook and the Gardener. Put them in a jar and pour vodka over them now. In December strain them and cook the liquid with sugar. Here are the instructions. We serve this over vanilla ice cream, or blend raspberries with vanilla ice cream and serve it over that (we learned this in Brazil), or put a tablespoon or so in a glass of champagne for New Year's Eve.

 

Sometimes I make a thick syrup from sugar and black currants, and we use it to make Italian sodas.

 

Or you can make granita for a cool summer treat. From the cookbook River Cottage Every Day:

 

2 pounds black currants

At least 2 cups confectioners' sugar

 

Put the black currants in a saucepan with 1 cup water, bring to a simmer, and cook gently for  5 to 10 minutes, until the fruit is completely soft. Push it through a sieve to remove the seede and skins. Sift in the sugar and whisk well. Taste the mixture and add more sugar if you think it's needed (bear in mind that, once frozen it will taste less sweet).

Pour the mixture into a large shallow container (if the puree is in a layer no more than 2 inches deep, it will speed up the freezing process). Freeze until rock solid.

Remove the granita from the freezer about 20 minutes before you want to serve it, to allow it to soften slightly. Just before serving, use a fork to scrape the mixture into crystals and shards. Pile into glasses and serve at once. 

 

Variation - Snow-capped granita: Try drizzling a little heavy cream on the granita in each glass just before you serve it.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2016 by Jane Elliot

[regentrude]

Toss with a bit of sugar on them and let them sit for a while. Then cover with vanilla mousse (puddng will do) and chill. Delicious.

[Jane Elliot]

One more thing. Black currants freeze better than any other berry I've frozen. If you don't want to deal with them now, just toss them into a ziploc and put them in the freezer. You can use them frozen for just about any black currant recipe you choose, except cassis. If you want to make the cassis, just put them in a jar with vodka now and you won't have to think about them again until December. 

[Jane Elliot]

To answer your original questions: I don't think of them as a substitute for blueberries, so we don't add them to pancake batter and muffins. They are far more tart than blueberries and a bite of them is very shocking if you were expecting blueberry flavor. If you want to have them with pancakes, make a syrup to go over the pancakes. Crush some of the berries and leave some of them whole. The sauce will be a nice syrupy consistency because of the natural pectin in the berries. You won't need cheesecloth in this case either because you'll be leaving the berries in the sauce.

 

And some interesting history: Black currant cultivation was banned in the US for much of the 20th century because the bushes carry a disease that damages white pine. At the same time, cultivation was encouraged in the UK during WWII because they are very high in Vitamin C while other fruits high in Vitamin C were difficult to get. So they are much more prevalent there. What that means is that it's not unusual for US residents to not know what to do with them, but you can get a lot of great recipes from British sites and cookbooks. Like this: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/seven-ways-cook-blackcurrants

 

 

 

 

[hornblower]

I like currants. I wish they were more popular in NA. 



interesting historical tidbit above! Thx for that Jane Elliot :) 

[Kareni]

Black currant is my favorite flavor of jam.  I grew up in New Zealand and Australia drinking Ribena (a black currant drink).  

 

I'd wondered why black currants were so much less well known in the US, so thank you for your post, Jane Elliot.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[McKay]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful posts about what to do with black currants.  I wish I had more available to try out several of the options that were mentioned.  I ended up using a steamer and got a quart of juice.  Now that I've learned how healthy they are, I'm considering planting some in my backyard. 

[zaichiki]

We're making preserves (jam).  8 bushes of black currents and 2 of red currents. Lots of preserves.

 

But I'd rather make juice.  

 

Planning to try some of the ideas in this thread!