Ingredient

Blackcurrant

A blackcurrant raw is astringent, sharp and faintly resinous, and very few people enjoy one. Cooked with sugar it becomes one of the most intensely flavoured fruits there is, and it carries so much pectin and acid that it sets a preserve almost whatever you do to it.

Why it needs sugar and heat

Blackcurrants are high in acid and in tannins, and the combination reads as harsh rather than merely sour. Sugar does not just sweeten them; it changes how the astringency is perceived, and heat drives off some of the sharper volatiles while concentrating the deep aromatic ones.

The result is a flavour with no real substitute. Blackcurrant tastes of blackcurrant, and nothing else does — which is why the cordial is a British institution and why cassis exists.

They also stain comprehensively. Work in something you do not mind, and expect purple fingers.

The preserving fruit, and why

If you have ever wondered which fruit to add to a difficult jam, this is usually the answer.

Very high pectin

Among the highest of the common fruits. A blackcurrant jam sets without help and can be difficult to stop setting.

Very high acid

Which is the other half of what pectin needs. No lemon required, ever.

Use it as a partner

A handful of blackcurrants rescues a low-pectin jam — strawberry, cherry, peach — without dominating if kept to a small proportion.

Needs more water than you expect

Because the fruit is dense and the skins are tough, most jam recipes simmer them in water first to soften the skins before the sugar goes in.

Sugar goes in late

Adding sugar before the skins have softened sets them hard, and they stay tough in the finished jam.

What to make

• Cordial, which is the classic and needs nothing but fruit, sugar and a little water.
• Jam or jelly. The jelly is worth the effort if you dislike the skins, which stay noticeable.
• Compote with a cinnamon stick, spooned over rice pudding or thick yoghurt.
• Summer pudding, where blackcurrant is the backbone and the other berries are decoration.
• With lamb or venison, in the same way redcurrant is used but sharper and more assertive.
• Crème de cassis if you have patience — fruit steeped in spirit and sugar, which is a long, easy, unattended job.
• A blackcurrant leaf sorbet. The leaves carry the same aroma and are usually thrown away.

Stripping and preparing them

The tedious part, made faster.

1. Hold a sprig by the stem and run a fork down it. The currants come off in seconds.
2. Do not bother removing the little dried flower remnant at the base of each berry unless the fruit is going into something raw and delicate. It disappears in cooking.
3. Freeze them on the sprig if you are short of time — the currants snap off cleanly once frozen.
4. Rinse and drain, then simmer in a small amount of water until the skins are visibly soft, before adding any sugar.
5. Taste before sweetening. The sugar needed varies enormously with the ripeness of the fruit.

Common questions