Ingredient

Redcurrant

Redcurrants are sharp, clear-flavoured and translucent, growing in strings like tiny bunches of grapes. They are milder and much less aromatic than blackcurrants, they are among the highest-pectin fruits in the garden, and their main role in a British kitchen is as a jelly served with meat.

Clear rather than deep

Where a blackcurrant is dark, resinous and assertive, a redcurrant is bright and simple: acid, a little sweetness and a clean fruit flavour with none of the tannic depth. It is not a lesser blackcurrant; it is a different thing that happens to grow on a related bush.

That clarity is why it turns into a jewel-like jelly rather than a dense jam, and why it works as a garnish where a blackcurrant would overwhelm. A string of redcurrants on a dessert plate does actual work, unlike most fruit garnishes.

White currants are the same species without the pigment — slightly sweeter, less acidic, and worth buying if you find them.

Why it sets so well

Exceptional pectin

Among the very highest of any commonly grown fruit, concentrated in the skins and pips.

High acid

Which is why no lemon is needed and why the jelly is bright rather than cloying.

The classic rescue fruit

A cup of redcurrant juice added to a low-pectin jam — cherry, strawberry, peach, fig — will set it without changing the flavour much.

Jelly not jam

The pips are numerous and the skins are papery, so the fruit is almost always strained. Jam made from whole redcurrants is unpleasantly seedy.

No need to strip

For jelly, stems and all go into the pan. Everything is strained out afterwards, and the stems carry pectin too.

What it is for

• Redcurrant jelly with lamb, which is the British classic and works because the acidity cuts the fat rather than because sweetness suits meat.
• Cumberland sauce — redcurrant jelly, port, orange and lemon zest, mustard — served cold with ham, game or terrines.
• Glazing a fruit tart. Warmed and brushed, it gives the shine without the flavour of apricot glaze.
• In a pan sauce for duck or venison, deglazed with a spoonful of the jelly and a splash of vinegar.
• Raw, in strings, as a garnish, where the sourness is deliberate against something sweet.
• Summer pudding, alongside blackcurrants and raspberries.
• Added to any jam that will not set, which is its unglamorous but genuinely useful role.

Making the jelly

The one preparation almost everybody wants from this fruit.

1. Put the fruit in a pan, stems and all, with just enough water to stop it catching.
2. Simmer gently until the currants have burst and gone pale — ten minutes or so. Crush them against the side of the pan.
3. Tip into a scalded jelly bag or a muslin-lined sieve over a bowl and leave to drip.
4. Do not squeeze the bag. Squeezing forces through fine solids and gives a cloudy jelly. This is the one rule that matters.
5. Measure the juice, add sugar in the usual proportion, dissolve it over a low heat, then boil hard to setting point.
6. Skim, pot into hot sterilised jars, and seal.

Common questions