Why Red Currant Jam?
We have less than two weeks left before we move out of the house and head to Grenoble. We’re deep in clearing and packing. One thing we can’t bring to Grenoble as it is: the frozen red currants harvested last year. To avoid letting good food go to waste, I decided to turn them into red currant jam.
I never ate red currants until I came to France and got my own red currant bush in the garden. Honestly, I find them a bit too tart to eat on their own. I’m hoping the sugar in the jam will soften the taste.
A little online research showed that making the jam is actually quite easy. It’s basically the same as what I did when I made strawberry jam last year. Sugar is the only ingredient I need to add, and I need to add a lot of it. The proportion of sugar to red currants varies between recipes, but it typically ranges from 55% to 75%. That is, 75g of sugar for every 100g of red currants.
One advantage of eating homemade food is that the cook controls what goes into the final product. I have a sweet tooth, and I love indulging in chocolates, ice cream, and other confectionery. But these are store-bought products. I’m aware of what goes into industrial food processing, yet I’m not there to witness it myself. Not being a witness means I can turn a blind eye to what I put into my body. I don’t have to think about it every time I eat them.
How Much Sugar Goes Into Red Currant Jam
If I’m the cook, I can’t ignore how much sugar is recommended for red currant jam. With 670g of red currants, that means adding at least 370g of sugar — the equivalent of 31 tablespoons! Tablespoon after tablespoon, I heap sugar onto the saucepan of vitamin C, K, and antioxidant-rich red currants. I can picture my waistline and hips expanding, inch by inch. There’s no way I’m adding that much sugar.
In the end, I added only 100g of sugar, about 15% of the weight of the red currants, or 8 tablespoons. As you can guess, the final jam still keeps a bit of its tartness. But it still works beautifully as a bread spread. Best of all, I feel a lot less guilty when I treat myself to a double serving!
How to Make Red Currant Jam
The main difference between making strawberry jam and red currant jam comes down to one extra step. I have to remove the seeds from the tiny red berries. To do that, I first heat the berries until they soften and start to break down. A spoon helps press the berries open in the saucepan. Then I separate the seeds from the juice using a sieve. I press the pulp against it with the back of a spoon. Finally, I add sugar to the mixture and bring it to a boil. You can find the full method in recipes such as Le journal des femmes and BBC Goodfood.
After making red currant jam from last year’s harvest, I’ll make one more batch. It’ll come together a couple of days before I move out of the house. This second and final batch will use this year’s fresh harvest. I want to enjoy as much of my garden’s goodness as I can before I leave.