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Currant Jelly
Strained redcurrant jelly, sweetened according to the juice actually recovered and kept refrigerated for short use.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Prepare clean small shallow heat-safe containers for the finished jelly and enough refrigerator space to cool each lot promptly. Use food-safe enamelled or stainless pans for the fruit and a wide stainless-steel kettle with ample headroom for boiling the measured juice.
Step 2
Sort the twenty-five pounds of fresh small redcurrants, discarding spoiled or overripe fruit. Wash, drain and remove stems. Working in manageable portions, pound the fruit almost to a pulp. Heat over moderate heat, stirring, until it reaches a boil, without adding water. Press through a colander into a basin, then through a fine sieve.
Step 3
Measure the actual recovered unsweetened liquid in quarts. For every quart measured, weigh one pound of white granulated sugar; use the same proportion for a measured fractional quart. The total sugar depends on the liquid actually recovered, so do not calculate it from the initial fruit weight.
Step 4
Cook the measured liquid in manageable lots of no more than one quart at a time, keeping other extracted juice promptly refrigerated. Bring each measured lot to a boil and skim. Add its corresponding weighed sugar and stir until dissolved, then boil briskly for a few minutes.
Step 5
Drop a little jelly from a skimmer onto a cold plate. When the cooled drops thicken and do not spread like water, take the kettle off the heat. If still runny, cook two or three minutes more and check again. Do not count a batch as finished currant jelly unless it actually sets.
Step 6
Pour each finished lot into the clean warmed shallow containers. Cool promptly and refrigerate at 4°C or colder as soon as steaming stops and within two hours of cooking, leaving the covers loose until cold. Then cover, date and let the jelly rest for six hours in the refrigerator. Keep refrigerated and use within two to three days; discard the entire contents of any container showing mould or other spoilage.
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