Blackcurrants: Cordial and Preserves

Image Description:  Blackcurrant preserves in a hexagonal jar and blackcurrant cordial in an embossed glass whisky bottle.

There are blackcurrants growing at Belville Community Gardens for anyone in the community to pick!  Except nobody seems to be picking them except us!  I've been making blackcurrant preserves and just made my first bottle of blackcurrant cordial!  (Remember the scene in Anne of Green Gables where she thought she was giving her friend Diane raspberry cordial, but it was currant wine?  That's what I think of every time people talk to me about cordial.  Here in Scotland, cordial is often called "diluting juice" and down in England, it's called "squash.")

Making preserves and cordial is really easy, especially if you plan to use it up in a month or so, because you can just keep it all in your refrigerator and skip the processing/canning water bath. 

I make them both in a similar way -- bung all the blackcurrants (or whatever fruit you're using) into a pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and let it simmer for a while.  Smash the fruit with a potato masher to get all the good juicy bits out.  If you are making preserves, you will want to simmer it down so that the fruit is thick.  If you are making cordial, you want it to be a lot more runny.

Add a few tbsps of lemon juice (the advice on this is generally "add the juice of 1-2 lemons" and sometimes they say to add lemon zest, too -- why not?), and add sugar to taste -- I use raw sugar and only just enough to preserve the fruit, but I don't like overly sweet things. 

If you are making preserves, you might want to blend your mixture with a hand blender, but it's not necessary.  If you are making cordial, you will want to strain the fruit out with a muslin or very fine sieve.  Save the fruit you strained and use it on pancakes, in baked goods, or as more preserves!

Then get a ladle and a funnel and ladle that shizzle into jars or bottles. 

I like my preserves in my morning porridge oats.  Cordial is nice over fizzy water in the summer (some people use champagne!) and is nice diluted with hot water in the winter -- so cosy!  <3

Image Description:  Blackcurrant preserves in a hexagonal jar and blackcurrant cordial in an embossed glass whisky bottle.