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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 150
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Has anyone got some recipes for red currants please. My bushes were loaded with fruit this year and i would like to do something other than making jelly.
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Blatanna |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Zone 5/6 New Jersey
Posts: 122
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Oh, I love currants, but we can't grow them (prohibited by the state)
![]() My grandmother used to grow them and used them in muffins, pies, and anywhere she could use cranberries. I know she used to make a chunky currant sauce with orange and horseradish. Sounds weird, but it was really good. A couple of years ago, I managed to find some at a farmer's market and made a great batch of raspberry-currant wine. It won second prize in the state homemade wine competition. |
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#3 |
Tomatoville Honoree
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Posts: 460
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Red Currant Pie
Ingredients -- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup white sugar 2 egg yolks 1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest 2 egg whites 1/2 cup white sugar 2 teaspoons cornstarch 2 1/4 cups red currants 1. To Make Dough: In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Mix in butter, sugar, egg yolks and lemon zest until mixture forms dough. Let rest in cool place for 30 minutes. 2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Roll out dough and put into a springform pan. 3. Bake in oven for 25 minutes, or until golden yellow. 4. To Make Filling: In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually stir in sugar and cornstarch; beat for 5 minutes. Fold currants into mixture and pour into pie crust. 5. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Currant Jam Clean the currants, removing stems, and steam for 60 minutes to extract juice. Two pounds of cleaned currants (red, white or black) will yield about 5 cups of juice. 5 cups currant juice 7 cups sugar 1 pouch Certo Follow directions on Certo package. Yield about 8 cups. Seal in sterilized jars. Blackcurrant or Redcurrant Sauce Topping for ice cream, pancakes, pound cake etc. Take 4 lbs. of black currants (approximately 12 cups of cleaned berries). Add 3 cups water and cook for 15 minutes until soft. Put through ricer and add 3 cups sugar. Seal in sterilized jars Blueberry- Currant Jam 5 cups crushed blueberries 4 cups sugar 1 cup red currant juice 1 pouch Certo Boil the blueberries, sugar, and currant juice for about 5 minutes, then add 1 pouch Certo and boil 1 minute. Ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal.
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"We believe we mere debtors to God in relation to each other and all men, to improve our Time and Talents in this Life, in that manner in which we might be most useful." Shaker Covenant 1795 |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 150
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Can i just say thank you to you both for going to the trouble to post some nice recipes. The wine sounds interesting. I never thought to make muffins with them.
I am very curious to know why you cannot grow red currants.
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Blatanna |
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#5 |
Tomatoville® Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: The Bay State
Posts: 3,207
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We cannot legally grow them here in Massachusetts, either.
![]() I had a elderly local farmer that I made friends with as a young teen and although he's long passed on, his currant patch is still going strong and I visit it annually. "Thank you Mr. Stockwell." This link explains why some of our states have the law on the books: http://www.fruitnet.com/cgi-bin/feat...eatures.REF=54
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Mischka One last word of farewell, Dear Master and Mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also with happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loved us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail. |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Ireland
Posts: 150
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Mischka, thanks so much for posting the link to the forbidden berry site. Its so interesting to read about these things.
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Blatanna |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Alaska Zone 3/4
Posts: 1,857
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![]() FLAVORED VINEGAR 3 c White wine vinegar Fruit flavor 2 Tbsp Honey Combine vinegar, fruit flavor, and honey in a 2- to 3-quart pan. Cover and bring to boil over high heat. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, until cool. If chosen fruit flavor contains pulp, pour liquid through fine strainer into a bowl; discard residue. Pour vinegar through a funnel into a 1-quart bottle, plain or decorative. Close tight; let stand at least one day. Use or keep at room temperature up to 4 months. If an opaque film develops on surface, either spoon it off or pour vinegar through a fine strainer into a pan and bring to boiling. Wash bottle and then refill with vinegar. Store as before. Fruit flavor: Rinse and drain 4 cups fresh berries (currants (crushed), raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, hulled and sliced); or use 12 to 16 oz. frozen, unsweetened berries. Add fruit to vinegar and heat as directed above. Pour through strainer and bottle. CRANBERRY (or CURRANT) LIQUEUR First Day: Crush three quarts berries in glass bowl. Leave uncovered in refrigerator 24 hours. Second Day: Add a fifth of Everclear, stir. Leave covered at room temperature for 24 hours. Third Day: Boil 6 cups sugar and 3 cups water for 5 minutes. Strain berries and add juice to cooled syrup. Age 3 weeks (longer is better!) Can use black or red currants, raspberries, blueberries, or others. ** We can grow both red and black currants here. Although (to me) the black ones taste positively nasty right off the bush, and even have an offensive odor, they give a much better flavor in jelly and other recipes. I had been aware that it was illegal to grow black currants in many locations, but did not realize red currants were also prohibited. I learn something here every day! |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: California Central Valley
Posts: 2,543
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I've been harvesting 6-8 pints from my thornless blackberry (one plant) every other day and am having fun thinking up ways to use them, besides just giving them away. I can easily eat a pint with oatmeal and vanilla soy yogurt (sometimes with blueberries, too) for breakfast -- berries and cream, one of my favorite foods. I don't have a freezer and don't have the time or facilities for canning (and wouldn't eat much jam or preserves), and don't like cakes or pies much. They're a little tart for eating out of hand. So here are some other things I've tried:
* cooking about 3 pints of berries with 2 cups of rice: Resulted in rice a lovely magenta color, with a good flavor, perfect for breakfast with some vanilla soy yogurt. * cooking about 5 cups of berries with 1 cup of rice: Soupier, thus harder to eat as a breakfast food, and did not keep well. By day 3-4, the remainder had started to ferment. After I'd composted it, it occurred to me that I could have tried heating it up again. * a pint of berries plus a cup or so of soynog (sweetened, cinnamon-flavor soymilk), whizzed together with hand blender: a great shake, but I wish I had an easy way to strain out the seeds. I don't have time to wait for it to seep through a strainer. Does anyone have any other creative ideas? |
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#9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
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I used to make blackberry sorbet out of it. All it took was a cup of berries and 2 cups of water, some sugar or stevia blended together and then frozen in a 9" x 9" pan until semi frozen. Then I'd scrape it all up, and re freeze, twice. Took about 2-3 hours, since that size pan doesn't hold that much. Made a good slushy too.
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
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I've also made a glaze with the berries and put it on pork, or poultry.
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WI, USA Zone4
Posts: 1,887
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No freezer? I would have figured you for some blackberry muffins ;-)
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Elizabethtown, Kentucky 6a
Posts: 754
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Ice cream. Lots & lots of ice cream.
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#13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Victoria, BC
Posts: 300
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Wow, life without a freezer. I can't quite imagine that.
I make a couple different blackberry vinegars. One is spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and allspice (whole or large pieces in a cheesecloth bag). Use 4 cups of berries and 4 cups of white vinegar. Heat together until just bubbling at the edges but not a full boil. Allow to steep for 30 minutes before straining into a large jar. This will keep for months at room temperature, but in our house, we use it daily for a salad dressing base. The other one I make uses white balsamic vinegar and sprigs of lemon thyme. It's also quite nice and not as sweet. The spiced one is used mostly for fall and winter salads with walnut oil for the dressing. I like it on a baby spinach salad with Asian pear, pomegranate seeds, and blue cheese. We also have an Oregon Thornless Blackberry that we got 5 years ago as a cutting in a local plant swap. The thing is huge now and covers about 25 feet of fence. I have 6 8 cup tubs of berries in my freezer and I use a LOT of them fresh while they're producing. Freezing is just the only way to keep up with them. You could also juice them if you wanted to reduce the volume.
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Grazie a tutti, Julianna |
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#14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
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Strawberry Lime Pie
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02 Title: Strawberry Lime Pie Categories: Pies Yield: 8 servings 1 x Baked 9 inch Pie Shell 2 x Envelopes unflavored Gelatin 6 oz Can frozen Limeade concentrate 1/3 c Sugar 1 t Grated Lime rind 1 c Diced Strawberries 1 c Whipping cream, whipped 1 ds Green food coloring Bake pie shell. Soften gelatin in 1/2 cup cold water. Combine limeade concentrate, sugar, and 3/4 cold water in small saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until concentrate melts and sugar dissolves. Add gelatin; stir until dissolved. Chill until syrupy. Stir in lime rind and strawberries. Fold in whipped cream until blended; tint pale green with food coloring. Chill until mixture mounds when dropped from a spoon. Place in pie shell; chill 2-3 hours until firm. Garnish with additional sliced strawberries. Yield about 6-8 servings. MMMMM |
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4,521
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Strawberry Mousse Cake
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02 Title: Strawberry Mousse Cake Categories: Cakes Yield: 10 servings MMMMM------------------------SPONGE CAKE----------------------- 3 ea Eggs, separated 1 x Pinch cream tartar 1/2 c Granulated sugar 1/4 t Grated lemon rind 1 t Vanilla 1/2 c All purpose flour 1 x Pinch salt MMMMM------------------STRAWBERRY YOGURT MOUSSE------------------ 1 1/2 ea Env unflavored gelatin 1/4 c Cold water 2 c Whole strawberries 1/3 c Granulated sugar 2 T Lemon juice 1/2 c Plain yogurt 1/2 c Whipping cream MMMMM---------------------------SYRUP--------------------------- 3 T Water 3 T Granulated sugar 2 T Strawberry or kirsch liqueur MMMMM-----------------CREAM FROSTING AND GARNISH----------------- 2 c Strawberries 1 1/2 c Whipping cream 2 T Granulated sugar CAKE: Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 inch spring form pan; set aside. In a large bowl beat whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1/4 cup of the sugar, continuing to beat to stiff peaks. In a separate bowl beat the yolks with remaining sugar until light yellow and thickened. Scrape yolks over whites, add lemon rind and vanilla and fold together. Sift flour and salt over batter, folding in gently but thoroughly. Transfer to prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on wire rack. If making ahead, remove from pan and wrap well for storage at cool room temperature for one to two days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. MOUSSE: In a very small saucepan sprinkle gelatin over water; set aside. Rinse, hull and puree berries. In a small saucepan combine puree, sugar and lemon juice and heat gently just long enough to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Warm softened gelatin over low heat until clear and syrupy. Stir into strawberry mixture. Transfer to a large bowl and chill to consistency of raw egg white. Whisk in the yogurt. Whip cream until form; fold into mousse and return to fridge. SYRUP: In a small saucepan bring water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, cool and stir in liqueur. ASSEMBLY: Using a long serrated knife, cut cake into 2 thin layers. Place top half, cut side up, in the button of a clean 9 inch spring pan. Drizzle half the syrup evenly over the cut side of each of the 2 halves. Spoon strawberry mousse over cake in pan; don't worry if mousse extends over the sides. Set remaining layer, cut side over mousse, pressing gently. Cover and chill thoroughly, overnight if possible. Release sides of pan, and using a wide lifter, transfer cake to service plate, doily-lined if you've thought that for ahead. CREAM FROSTING AND GARNISH: Rinse and hull berries. Slice thinly. Whip cream until it's stiff and firm. Sweeten with sugar and spread evenly over top and sides of cake. Arrange berry slices in circle around the top and bottom edges of the cake. Refrigerate until serving time, which should be within the following hour or two. MMMMM |
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