Blackcurrant and Rhubarb Jam

Blackcurrant Jam is my all time favourite jam, and I try and eek out the fruit as far as possible with other seasonal fruit.  Last year I added courgette to them to make it go further with good effect in my Blackcurrant and Courgette Jam.      This year I added Rhubarb as the courgette glut hadn’t started as yet – which went great as well.  The great thing about Blackcurrants is that they have a high pectin count so you can add more water and then get a higher yield.  Most of the jam books say that Rhubarb isn’t great on the pectin count, but my Granny Foster always used to add it to jams to add pectin, and it always worked for her – so now I do it!

This recipe is yummy!!

1lb Blackcurrants  (top and tailed)

1lb Rhubarb (chopped up about 1cm long)

Just over half a pint of water (about 350mls)

2lb sugar (don’t waste money on preserving sugar, just buy the cheapest that you can find!)

 

Pop the fruit and the water into a preserving pan and simmer until soft, I normally see if the blackcurrants pop against the side of the pan if I push them with a wooden spoon.

Then add the sugar, and stir regularly until it comes to the boil, keep a rolling boil until the setting point is reached.  I normally do the metal spoon set test.  Unlike some jams which can take quite a while to get to setting point, this is relatively quick, 5 -10 minutes-ish.

Pop the jam into sterilised glass jars, pop a wax disc on top and screw the lid on firmly.  This quantity makes about 5 – 6 pots of the good stuff!

Then you just wait for the satisfying pop as the lid seals properly!

Scrummy on Courgette Bread!  And you can tweak the recipe, and cook it with Redcurrants rather than Blackcurrants – depending on what ripens at the same time!