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Red Currant Jelly

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!