Harvested our first blackcurrants of the year yesterday, in addition to the latest crop of strawberries. Both fruits have been swollen by recent rains and were overflowing with juice.
It may seem a bit early for the currants, but my policy is to selectively pick the ripe ones - they generally drop off their tiny stems very easily when gently pulled - and leave the smaller, less ripe ones for a bit longer. Then they're taken home, washed, dried and placed on a tray in the freezer. Once they are frozen they can go into a plastic box for storage in the freezer, but this way they don't freeze as a big block that is impossible to prize apart when you just want a handful of fruits for a small dessert.
I'll probably eat these with in crumbles, summer puddings and stewed with a dob of vanilla ice cream. I may even venture into as yet uncharted sorbet territory this year, time permitting.
Meanwhile the wild blackberry bushes draped along the fence that borders the allotment are heavy with flower, and as no one else seems to bother picking these free fruits (which always amazes me - a tiny plastic box of blackberries is about £2 in Tesco) I should get a good crop of these too.
Delia has a recipe for a creamy vanilla dessert in her Summer book - it looks like a square blancmange, but is much denser and richer. Anyway, blackcurrant compote is divine with it.
Posted by: Pamela | June 30, 2004 at 03:38 PM
Wow, that sounds good. since I wrote this post almost all the currants are ripe and I am having trouble keeping up with the picking/freezing routine! Apple and blackcurrant crumble is on the menu for tonight...
Posted by: Jane | July 02, 2004 at 09:06 AM
Mmmmm, I love crumble. Plum is my all time favourite, but apple and blackcurrant sounds pretty good too.
Posted by: Pamela | July 04, 2004 at 11:59 AM
hi mY name is cliff
im currently doing a school assinment for hortculture on blackcurrants and i was wondering if any one could send me some info on them
thx.
Posted by: cliff | August 24, 2006 at 06:37 AM