Earlier this week I made red currant jelly. I used my recipe/notes from an old SURE-JELL insert from several years ago. Funny, new boxes of SURE-JELL no longer lists/includes CURRANT jelly-making instructions!?
HOW-TO:
You’ll need about 7 lbs or 10 pints of currants. I cull ALL the stems…we think they add an unwanted grassy flavor to the juice. It’s a lot more work, but well worth the final flavor. Discard stems and slightly crush currants. Place clean currants in large saucepan and add 1-1/2 cups water. Bring to boil, reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes.
Place three layers of damp cheesecloth/jelly bag or use a food mill and collect juice. Measure 6-1/2 cups juice into large saucepot. Add up to 1/2 cup water to get exact amount of juice needed.
Measure 4-1/2 cups sugar into a bowl. Remove 1/4 cup sugar and mix with 1-box SURE-JELL pectin into a small bowl. Stir pectin/sugar mixture into juice (you may add 1/2 tsp butter or marg to reduce foaming – I don’t). Bring mixture to full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir-in remaining sugar all at once. Return to full boil and boil exactly one minute. Remove from heat and place into clean/prepared jelly jars, filling to within 1/8-inch of tops. Wipe jar rims/threads clean and cover with 2-piece lids/screw caps, tightly. ***The lids should be soaking in HOT water to soften the rubber seal.***
Place filled jelly jars into canner; water must cover jars by 1 to 2-inches. Cover pot and bring to gentle boil. PROCESS jelly for 5-minutes. Remove jars and place on a towel to cool. Lids will ‘pop’ (indicating a good seal) as they cool.
Just for fun, here’s a vintage ‘free’ red currant jelly label…for you to download.
I think I’ll infuse herb – a little mint or sage or maybe lemon thyme – into my next batch…?
Happy jelly-making!
Sheepy Hollow Farm 
Jenny,
Thank you so much for the recipe and the darling label. I have a question.
I have my first batch of currents and I tasted one and ARE THEY KINDA BITTER??? They look ready to pick but I thought they would be a bit sweeter. Do you think I could freeze them? I have a mulberry tree that I plan on “harvesting” tomorrow and planned on freezing them til I have time to use them. Wondering if I can use the currents and the mulberries if I dont have enough currents??????? Thank you! Cindy
Currants are VERY tart…not many would consider eating them off the vine! But, we grew up with them…perhaps it’s an acquired taste? Red currants are bright red when they are ripe; white currants are a light pink when ready for picking. You may pick/clean them and freeze them to use in ‘cake’ or for jelly later. I’ve prepared the currant juice, measured it and put it in the freezer (using plastic ice cream buckets) and made jelly later. I think you could easily combine ‘berries’ to make an interesting jelly…YUM! They make nice gifts for family & friends too!!
I love currant jelly and it is my all time favorite!!!!! I just made a batch from currents that I had frozen last year……………its great and the next batch I may try a little lemon-thyme………….I love the label but don’t know how to download it…………………..help me please
Hi Alice! Place your curser/mouse on the photo/label and right click. Use the save-image-as (left click) and it will save it to your file. Does that help? Enjoy!
P.S. I also tried lemon thyme, but, the red currant is already a bit tart, that I really didn’t notice it…maybe I should have added more! wink!