I went to the farmers market Saturday and picked up a flat of local Currants. I was interested as soon as I saw them, because Grandma used to go on and on about how great Currant jelly was, and how hard it was to find. The lady selling them had brought some of her own jelly along to give samples from, and it tasted great. So I took the plunge and bought a whole flat of them.
Currants have tiny little seeds, and are very tart. I cleaned them and pulled off the bad ones, and put them all in a pot with a cup of water and set it to simmer.
Soon it all fell apart and the berries burst and let out their juice. I mashed it a bit with a potato masher.
Stems and all! Then I packed it into a jelly bag, and hung it over a bowl to drip out all the juice. Before going to bed I put what had drained out into a container in the fridge, and left it hanging overnight.
Half a flat of berries reduced to one jelly bag. I got about 2 cups of juice, and I need 4-5. So more tomorrow.
Update: I didn't get any pictures of the actual jelly making. I ended up with 5 1/2 cups of very thick juice, and the instructions said I needed 6 1/2 and I could add 1/2 c of water to get there -so I went ahead and added a whole cup. I followed the instructions on the pectin packet, but this stuff was so thick, I'm not sure it needed pectin at all. It was setting up before I got it out of the pan! I made 8 half-pints. Processed them in my electric turkey fryer/water bath canner. That canner makes the whole process so much easier. I'm spoiled now!
This is the first time I've made jelly, I've always made Jam before. This stuff is pretty :) Tastes good too - sweet/tart!
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