White-Currants - a special event!

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Using White-currants –ribes rubrum

Although I have known about white-currants for many years – I had seen them in the orchard of friends of my parents when I was a little girl, I have never actually seen them used or tasted products made from them – redcurrants yes! I do love redcurrant jelly with roast meat, especially lamb and it is quite a good substitute for cranberry sauce or jelly with the Christmas turkey. Perhaps that makes our currants sound like the poor relation but, they really are a wonderful fruit both for savoury dishes and for desserts.

I was rather fascinated by this rather ignored fruit so, I bought a couple of bushes to ‘give them a try’ a couple of years ago. They don’t produce fruit on new wood but, like redcurrants, the long strings of jewel like fruits are borne on older wood.

This year, after a long cold winter and poor spring, has been amazingly productive for white-currants and redcurrants.

There is, however, little information around on what to do with white-currants in the kitchen so, I’ve had to experiment a little though, ideas that work for redcurrants can also work for white-currants.

I do think they are probably the most beautiful of fruits. On their long strings of ripe berries they look like exotic strings of jewels – long glistening earrings!

Birds just love redcurrants so, it is really important to net them carefully, especially as the bright red fruits are easily seen by passing pigeons, magpies and blackbirds who seem to find them very palatable some time before we would find them ripe enough to use.

I didn’t net my white-currants. The green unripe berries blend well with the luxurious leaf growth and have stayed hidden until they have started to ripen. I have seen no signs of bird predation, unlike on my netted redcurrants – I had to help a magpie to escape from my fruit cage a couple of days ago while its mate screeched alarm from a nearby bush. This year, there has been enough for all and in a couple of days when I have harvested most of my gooseberries, I will open my fruit cages and let the birds eat their fill.

Apart from preserves using this fruit they are just wonderful on cakes and puddings.

As a decoration  - keep the ripe berries on their stalks but choose the most perfect stalks you can find.

Ø  For puddings and ice cream – wash the fruit carefully, and dry on kitchen paper. Place carefully into suitable freezer containers [not bags], keeping each string of berries separate from others and freeze. When needed the frozen fruits can be placed on ice-cream dishes, sorbets and cold puddings just before serving.

Ø  For decoration on cakes, flans, tartlets – choose the best strings of the fruit you can find. Wash and dry them on sheets of kitchen paper. Brush over each fruit with egg white or whisk the egg white lightly and dunk the fruit into it ensuring all of the fruit has been coated. Dust each string of fruit with castor sugar, ensuring all of the fruit has been coated. Set out onto greaseproof paper to dry. These fruits will keep for some days.

Preserves

White-currants are a close relation to redcurrants – [both are Ribes rubrum]. It is thought that white-currants are actually a sport or mutation of redcurrants though they have been around for a very long time. The fruits, when ripe are not really white but a very pale peachy colour and jams or jellies made from them will have a warm pink colour. If you wish to make the colour richer you can add a few redcurrants to the mixture, though it does seem a shame to alter it like this.

The most famous white-currant preserves are Bar-le-Duc, also called Lorraine Jelly. These preserves have been made in a small town of the same name in the provence of Lorraine [north east France], for many centuries. However, they are costly as the seeds are carefully removed from each individual fruit while keeping the fruits intact – a job which can only be done by hand. These berries are then suspended in the jelly.

Whitecurrant Jelly

1½ kg (3lb) whitecurrants – actually it doesn’t really matter how much you have, the amount of sugar added will depend on the amount of juice extracted.

½ litre [1 pint] water

Method

1.      Wash the fruit and remove any leaves or bits of twig. You can leave the stalks in. Put them in a preserving pan with the water.

2.      Heat very gently to draw the juice from the fruit, then simmer slowly until the fruit has been totally softened or turned to pulp.

3.      Strain through a scalded jelly bag. Leave it overnight to ensure all the juice has been extracted. Don’t be tempted to squeeze the bag, you will make your jelly cloudy for little extra juice.

4.      Measure the juice and add approx. 1kg sugar for every litre of juice (1lb for every pint).

5.      Return the juice and the sugar to a clean preserving pan and heat slowly until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir frequently to ensure the sugar doesn’t stick.

6.      Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. [place a little on a saucer and allow to cool – the jelly should wrinkle when pushed with a finger]. There is a lot of pectin in currants so, it should reach setting point quite quickly.

7.      Skim to remove any froth from the top of the jelly or add a small knob of butter and stir in rapidly (this should remove any froth from the top of the jelly).

8.      Pot up in small, hot, sterilised jars. Cover immediately and label.

Whitecurrant Jam

Like most currant jams, if it is made in the same way as most jams, the preserve can be quite seedy and many people, including myself, find this rather unpleasant. However, there is a compromise between the jam and jelly.

1½ kg (3lb) whitecurrants – actually it doesn’t really matter how much you have, the amount of sugar added will depend on the amount of puréed fruit.

½ litre [1 pint] water

1.      Wash the fruit and remove any leaves or bits of twig. You can leave the stalks in. Put them in a preserving pan with the water.

2.      Heat very gently to draw the juice from the fruit then, simmer slowly until the fruit has been totally softened or turned to pulp.

3.      Using the back of a wooden spoon press the pulp through a sieve [use a nylon sieve – not a metal], to take as much of the pulp as possible but leaving seeds, stalks and skins behind which can be discarded.

4.      Measure the pulp in a measuring jug and add approx. 1kg sugar for every litre of juice (1lb for every pint).

5.      Return the pulp and the sugar to a clean preserving pan and heat slowly until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir frequently to ensure the sugar doesn’t stick and burn.

6.      Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. [place a little on a saucer and allow to cool – the jam should wrinkle when pushed with a finger]. There is a lot of pectin in currants so, it should reach setting point quite quickly.

7.      Skim to remove any froth from the top of the jam or add a small knob of butter and stir in rapidly (this should remove any froth from the top of the jam).

8.      Pot up in small, hot, sterilised jars. Cover immediately and label.

This stuff is rare, delicious and precious. If you are going to use it, make sure it is for a special event. If you are going to give it away, make it for a special occasion, as a gift, etc.