Bob, you’re right a jelly bag makes very clear jelly. I use a food mill to separate all of the seeds when making my black currant jam which is the best jam ever!!! I agree again. Red, white and pink currants do not have a terribly distinctive flavor but they are great in certain sauces for game, like ‘Cumberland Sauce’. I use red currant jelly for making it. Can’t live without them!
Yes, they are good berries.Here in my zone I’m still waiting. Soon though!
I like them. Sure other berries are better, but they make a great jam, color is divine!
Double Gold and Fall Gold.
Chester Blackberry
Notice the topped primocanes in the middle. They are huge. They make this year’s canes look small. Not the best tasting berry, but excellent for jam.
The only ripe blackberries I got so far are wyeberries and one Columbia Star.
Raspberries are still producing here. Daily harvests are kinda too big!
Wyeberries, slightly underipe for jam.
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Nice berries Drew, I have golden raspberry Ann just start to ripe. I like its flavor very much. Any chance that double gold and Fall Gold has similar flavor to Ann?
mrsg, glad you mentioned food mill , I do have one on hand that I can use. It has been stored for many years ever since blender/food processor got popular.
I don’t use a food mill- I just boil them whole with a bit of water. After it has boiled for a while I use a potato masher on them (while still boiling). Then after a few more minutes (and maybe a bit more mashing), I pour the whole thing through the colander (a big bowl shaped strainer). After this, I give the big pot a quick wash and pour the liquid back in and mix with sugar. I used 5 lbs of sugar with ~5.5 pounds of berries last year.
After all the sugar is dissolved and things have reached the right consistency (I use the cold plate trick to know when), I pour it into jars, close them, then stand the upside down for a few minutes (kill germs on lids with near boiling sauce) before flipping them right side up.
In the last few days I’ve gotten some Newberry and Boysenberries. It is the first time I’ve had Newberry, which are pretty good.
Fall Gold is similar. A little more acidic. Double Gold is like a mild red. A low acid type though. Cascade Gold are as good or better than Anne. The plants are not super hardy. I seem to lose a cane or two every year. But the taste is worth it. The canes that made it are very productive. It is more a solid yellow than a translucent yellow. They are summer bearing.
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I use a strainer, it’s fine enough to remove strawberry seeds. I do have a food mill too, I use it for tomato sauce. I could try it for berries too.
I also do not use much sugar. Usually 1/2 of whatever berry I’m using. 2 cups of berries, one cup of sugar. I use no sugar pectin or Pomona if fruit is low acid.
I tend to mix low acid fruit with high acid fruit. Makes the best jam.
I also always add 1/2 cup of lime/lemon or vinegar. Sometimes i add apple juice.1/2 cup. If i need more liquid, or want more pectin. You can also grate apple for pectin.
I have only made jelly once, Quince jelly. I would like to make a white currant jelly since it sells for $40.00 for 4 oz. See what the fuss is about? I bet Pink Campaign would make an excellent jelly too. My plants are small so I have to wait a couple years. Only my reds produce right now.
Laxton’s Number 1 red currant is a very good grower, and I have been trying to grow a cordon with it. It’s taking a long time but I’m getting there.
Wow Drew- you’ve got that thing tied up tight- it isn’t going anywhere.
I picked a quart of Laxton’s #1 yesterday. I didn’t notice any difference between it and Rovada from a flavor standpoint and Rovada had large easier to pick clusters.
I’ve never added pectin to my jelly/jams- I just add some currants which have plenty. A couple weeks ago I made Cherry jam with 3/4 sour cherries (pitted by hand with my daughter) and 1/4 red & white currants. It is pretty good, though I don’t notice the currants much in the flavor.
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Thanks all for the tips. Sounded like a delicious task. this is the year for me to make some current jelly. Will see how it turns out.
Drew,Thanks. I am tempted for adding a Cascade Gold.
Yes. I have one too, I do like that one too. I can’t tell apart by taste either. I’m going to make another cordon with a Rovada on the other side of my house.
I tied it down as it grows upwards, before it hardens I shape it into the cordon along the top of the fence. I’ll remove ties in the fall. So as it grows longer it is tied down.
I use my currants for a mulberry-wyeberry-currant jam. It is the best jam I make hands down. Once my pink and white currants are big enough I may make jelly. I only have a few of each this year. Mostly all red currant. I will be growing more currants too, I myself love red currants. I would like to have 10 pounds or so a year. That would be enough for me. I want to infuse vodka, and also mixed with coconut makes the best smoothies. I enjoy working with the berries. It will be interesting to add plum. Some currant-plum jam sounds awesome, or raspberry-plum. I will be experimenting a lot with various combinations. Anyway Red currants are vital to my needs.
Easy to grow, now the plums on the other hand…
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Bob our method is similar, but after boiling and breaking down the skins of the currants, I let the mixture cool a little, them I put them through the food mill. I add sugar when they are skin and seed free. Pure, tartish jam, every time. As you know black currants are loaded with pectin. I too use the ‘frozen’ dish method for testing if the jam is ready for bottling then processing.
Last year I made three different pepper jams. I use them sort of like a dipping sauce or a glaze. I heat the jam up and use it as a chicken or pork glaze. This year I’m only growing The official Jamaican Scotch Bonnet for jerk sauce. I’m going to have to grow more hot peppers next year as I’m enjoying using dried whole peppers in various dishes from last year. This turned out to be an excellent way of preserving the peppers. No refrigeration, stored whole so not messy, no powder to spill. You leave a little moisture in the peppers and they retain a fresh taste. Excellent!
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Great method Drew. They look tasty in a hot, painful way! How are you drying them?
A dehydrator. Besides dried whole, I make chili powder, cayenne pepper (and other hot pepper powder), and paprika too. I use it to dry herbs also, I find all are so much more tasty than any jar at the store. Also they use some strange stuff to keep powders dry. I would rather have unprocessed powders. My powders are fragrant too, smell the store bought stuff, says it all. Whole dried is better as you don’t totally dry the pepper, whereas with powders you do, lowering shelf life. Well it will be good forever, but flavor starts to leave the powders first. I freeze bulk powder till I need to fill the jar.
I smoked most of my peppers last year (Paprika, Gaujillo, Habs, Scotch, Cayenne), Smoking dries them out and at the same time gives a very pleasing acrid smokey flavor. I try to use whatever fruit wood that I have lying around, Hickory can be too overpowering for the peppers.
I have a smoker, but I myself do not care for that flavor with peppers. It might be the wood I used? I like the dehydrator as often i have small quantities only.
Mulberry current jam sounds delicious. I will keep it in my mind next year. Before we were carried away by mosquitoes last night, we managed to picked most of pink, red, black current. We used some of the pink current made three jars of currant jelly with yours and Bob’s receipt, Thanks. My daughter ate rest of pink, red current fresh. We are going to juice the black current and mixed it with apple/carrot juice as daily Veggie drink. Will see how that turns out.
For some reasons, black currents are little hard to pick because their cluster is shorter, compare to pink and red currents. It take a while just to pick a quater. Does any one have a better way of picking them, or tools to pick them?
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Finally have something to report from the orchard!
I have been getting lots of red raspberries for 2 weeks from my no-name variety that was started from a few plants dug from a friend’s patch about 21 years ago. This variety gives a fall harvest too, assuming the frost does not come early. I have 7 quarts frozen and my wife and I have stuffed ourselves with the berries on granola or oatmeal every morning for 2 weeks, plus some used as dessert.
My real excitement though is my first peach harvest from a new variety to me. Pictured below are 2 of the 12 peaches from my 3y old “Fourth of July” peach tree from Starks, which is the PF 5b variety from Paul Friday. I was not expecting too much from them other than earliness based on what I had read, but man these were very sweet, juicy, though a little small as expected. Harvested these this AM. This moves my peach season up a few weeks…looking forward to more of these in the future and the rest of the peaches over the rest of the summer.
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