Summer Bounty - Part III

Red Currants simmering

     One of my favourite discoveries this summer has been the joy of making jellies.  It was something I was always a bit afraid of, thinking it would be difficult and time-consuming, but that could not be further from the truth!  Two weekends ago I made my first-ever batch of red currant jelly and last weekend I followed up with my first-ever batch of black currant jelly.  Knowing that currant season is short, I was thrilled to find more red currants at the market this morning.  I bought two pints, rinsed them well and followed a recipe from one of my mother's old, English cook books, Practical COOKERY for all, which I'm pretty sure is from the '50s.

Mash

                                         Red-currant Jelly

     3 lb. red currants     3/4 pint water     Sugar
     Time: about 50 minutes.  Temperature: low to moderate

Method: Put the fruit into a colander and spray with cold water to clean.  Do not remove the stalks.  Put into a preserving pan with the water.  Bring very slowly to the boil.  Cook the fruit very gently until all the berries are pulpy - about thirty to thirty-five minutes.
     Strain through a jelly bag and leave to drip for several hours.
     Measure the juice which is collected, then pour it into a pan and bring to the boil.  To each pint add three-quarters to one pound of sugar, stirring until dissolved.  Continue to boil briskly for ten minutes.  Test for setting.  Pot and cover.

Jelly-bagging!

     The above is the recipe verbatim but I should add a few of my own notes: preserving pan?  I used a regular pot, no lid necessary, and mashed the fruit with a potato masher after it had simmered and become soft.  This time round, I added a crushed, dried pepper to the mash to give the jelly some zing. I bought a jelly bag from a local kitchen store and it was the perfect size for the rim of my Mexican glass pitcher, which had the added bonus of being useful for pouring out the juice after the three or so hours of dripping.  N.B. do not squeeze the jelly bag to get more juice as this results in the jelly being cloudy, instead of lovely and clear.

Finished product

     Serving suggestion: every weekend, CC and I have cheesy bagels.  We get Montreal-style bagels from the market, toast them and then I add sliced cheese - CC likes cheddar, I prefer spiced Gouda or Oka - and then put them under the grill in the oven until the cheese is runny.  Lately, I have been spreading jelly on the bagels, post-toasting and pre-grilling - the colour is great, and the taste is tres je ne sais quoi.