No surprises then as to whose job it is to go and collect said blackcurrants. Dropping the punnet halfway through and falling into the bush not required but they happened anyway.
After two hours of picking two pints of the fruit, I returned to the kitchen for the fun job of removing the stalks and was faced with the dilemma of what to do with the blackcurrants now that I had them.
As some of the beady eyed amongst you may have noticed I managed to stretch my blackcurrants quite far making not 1, not 3 but 4 items including jam, cordial, scones and sorbet.
Sorbet
Well actually I just stuck some of the blackcurrants in the freezer to make sorbet at a later date but that still counts right?
Jam
For the jam, I used this simple recipe from the BBC which uses the same amount of blackcurrants to sugar as well the juice of one lemon. Boil the jam until it reaches 105 degrees Celsius or (if you don't have a fancy sugar thermometer (I don't) you can do the saucer test to see if your jam is ready.
Place a small spoon of your jam onto a saucer and tilt the plate so that the jam runs. The aim is that your jam will have set and should not drip down the plate. If it does drip, however, let it boil for a few minutes longer.
Cordial
Because you can't have blackcurrants without Ribena right? My intention was to halve this recipe yet after adding the right amount of both blackcurrants and sugar I then completely forgot about the whole 'halving the recipe' thing and proceeded to pour in the full 300ml of water and 2 zest and juices of lemon so that my version of the cordial actually tastes a bit more like lemonade than Ribena.
Scones
Finally, I turned my intention to making scones to go with my jam yet mine had the addition of blackcurrants which added a lovely tart flavour and a spot of colour.
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