Your redcurrant recipes, please

Looking after a small baby is rather time consuming, it turns out (heavy sarcasm intended here) ... hence the lack of recent posts and, indeed, hours of gardening under my belt in the last few weeks. The heavy rain that has dominated the skies over the past few weeks hasn't helped, either.

Rick harvested these gorgeous looking redcurrants which I found the time to freeze. I have to admit that aside from making redcurrant jelly, I have no idea what to do with them. All suugestions gratefully received ... preferably something that takes two minutes in between nappy changes and feeds, please ...

Comments

[growyourownveg]

i planted a couple of red currant plants two year ago. no of them have produced any fruit. i dont understand why. the plants look healthy. any special thing i need to do? thanks.

[Anne P]

Redcurrant muffins - yes, they take a little longer than 2 min, but should fit in between nappy changes. It's based on an American recipe, so it's all in cups (and you may want to reduce the sugar a little, although the redcurrants are sufficiently tart that you may find the basic recipe is OK - I just adapted a blueberry muffin recipe.)

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 teasp baking powder
1/2 teasp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
approx 1 cup redcurrants
1/2 teasp cinnamon (opt - I didn't, but I wish I had)

Combine first 4 ingredients (and cinnamon, if using) in a large bowl; make a well in centre of mixture. Combine egg, milk and oil; add liquid mixture to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Gently stir in redcurrants. Spoon into greased muffin pans filling 2/3 full. Bake at 400F (200C) for 20 to 25 min. Remove muffins frm pans immediately. Yield: approx 10 muffins.

[Matron]

I never know what to do with redcurrants either. I've just made some jelly, but that's it. I heard someone uses redcurrant juice to add pectin to her strawberry jam.

[Jane Perrone]

Ooh, that looks like a great recipe Anne P, and I am currently on a "muffin kick" (made apple and cinnamon muffins recently which were fab) so will definitely give those a try...

[mark]

Redcurrants and raspberries are a match made in heaven. Redcurrants brings out the flaour of rasps like nothing else in on their own, crumbles, pies, ice creams, jams, sorbets, jam, compotes etc etc

[Ruth]

Believe it, I just picked a cup of red currants!!! At this time of the year, ours are all done for. I'm going to make some more of the muffins. I doubted the thought of seeds not being a problem and they aren't.

[ROSE]

I MADE THESE MUFFINS TODAY WITH THE CINNAMON. THEY ARE VERY EASY TO MAKE, THE HARDEST PART WAS PICKING 1 CUP OF CURRANTS. THEY ARE VERY YUMMY:)

[barbara]

growyourownveg, it might be that the variety you choose isn't adapted to your region climate. do you have enough cold in the winter? most of the berries need cold so that their flowers form.If the region doesn't provide the enough hours of cold flowers won't form and therefore you wont have fruits. I'm sure there's a lot of other possible reasons for your trees not being prooductive but this can be one.

[Lyn Jones]

I am also looking for recipes, and my trsuted cookery books have failed, only red currant jelly, I have picked 3 lbs this afternoon from 1 bush and have another rippening quickly. Although I love jelly I don't want to use it all in that way. I saw a site with Red currant cheese cake, I guess the same recipes as black currants can be used. Good luck

[Jacqueline Stearns]

I have copious amounts of currants and have tried them in all sorts of stuff. I love making them into jam with strawberries or raspberries. Extends my sweet fruits and gives it a bit of zip. I have made currant banana muffins, currant blueberry muffins, currant blackberry pancakes are on the menu for tomorrow am. I agree that they are fab in crumble or mountain cake!! Yum! I'm ready to try them with any fruit in any fruit recipe!!