I share my way of harvesting a large amount of jelly and red currant juice.
My mother-in-law has a lot of red currants on the site. In recent years, she decided not to cook anything from it and gives everything to me.
We get a lot of currants, and we can't eat all of it. Therefore, I harvest jelly and fruit drinks from it. Since the volume of work is large, I tried to simplify and speed up the process as much as possible.
I stopped removing berries from the branches and cook with them. When I first tried this recipe a couple of years ago, I was worried that the jelly would not last long. But I worried in vain - the jelly is perfectly stored until spring.
I will not delay any more, let's cook!
Step-by-step recipe on how to make red currant jelly
- Red currant 1 kg
- Sugar 1 kg
- Water for fruit drink
I wash the red currants in the sink, closing the drain. This is very convenient, since sand and dirt settle to the bottom, and light debris floats to the surface.
I put the berries on a sieve without removing them from the branches to get rid of excess water. I also do not remove the leaves from the branches, they will not interfere with us.
I put the currants in a saucepan and cover them with sugar.
I have a double portion of berries in my pan, so don't be surprised that there are so many berries in the photo.
I mix sugar with berries so that the currants give juice. You can leave it for 30-40 minutes, and then the sugar will be absorbed by itself, but I don't like to wait, so I mix it.
I put the pan on the fire, bring it to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes. I check the readiness with a thermometer - 105 ° C, which is what we need.
If there is no thermometer, then you can check for drainage. I put the plate in the freezer before making the jam. After 8-10 minutes of cooking, I drip a little jam onto a cold plate, let it cool for a minute and then run my finger. If the jelly keeps its shape and does not flow together, you're done.
Now I filter the mass through a sieve to get rid of twigs, seeds and cake. The jelly is almost ready, I pour it into sterilized jars, close the lid and put it in a dark place for storage.
By the way, I don’t throw away the cake and everything that is left after straining. I transfer it to a three-liter jar and pour boiling water up to the very neck. A day later, an excellent fruit drink is obtained.
How do you harvest red currants?