I made redcurrant jelly

I went to the market today and almost missed a stall that had stacks of those little plastic containers of red currants. My sister saw them. Now you just never see red currants anywhere. I don't know why. Well I sort of do. I guess it's too hot to grow them here. But there they were - from Gruyère in the Dandenongs we noticed - and here's the thing - they were a mere $1.00 a punnet. I couldn't resist and bought four. I thought I would try to make some jam from them. I should have bought more really. She would probably have reduced the price for more.

So when I got home I checked my English cooks - for really they are an English thing - and found an amazingly simple recipe for redcurrant jelly from Jane Grigson so I thought I would give that a go.

"Run a thin layer of water over the base of the preserving pan, then put in an equal weight of red currants - no need to remove the stalks - and sugar. Stir and heat slowly until the sugar has dissolved, then raise the heat and boil hard for 8 minutes. Tip out into a sieve set over a bowl, or into a jelly bag, and pour the resulting liquid into small pots.

This jelly, which is a version of Eliza Acton's, gives a strong jelly of fine flavour."

Well I certainly hope so. I just couldn't resist "no need to remove the stalks". And "boil hard for 8 minutes".

But of course, nothing is that simple. First of all I decided to make it in the microwave - it is said that the flavour is more intense this way and I certainly didn't have a lot of red currants - around 500g in total, stalks and all. So I thought it would be a good way to make it. You can't make large batches of jam in the microwave. And it was really, but it did take a bit longer than 8 minutes - probably around 20 all up, and it did boil over and make a mess, though I did manage to retrieve most of it. It did look as if it was setting and it was pretty simple to pour it all through the sieve. I probably should have mixed it up a bit before I poured it into the two jars, but anyway - done and dusted now. Two small jars from four punnets. I did taste it and I suspect that I should have decreased the sugar. I'm not sure the taste of the red currants shines through the sugar really. Maybe next year I shall be lucky enough to see some more.

I vaguely remember that we may have grown red currants when I was small. They are beautiful things.

"These shiny little jewels soak up the sun and reflect its ripening light through their translucent, bright skins – like little stars in a night of deep green leaves. A dewy truss of black - or redcurrants reminds me of a clutch of sapphires or rubies, while whitecurrants couldn't look more like pearls if they jumped out of an oyster. " Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

And you can do more with them than make redcurrant jelly, although redcurrant jelly itself is very versatile. You can make ice creams and various kinds of desserts - tarts, meringues, cakes. And they are a useful foil to rich meats such as pork, lamb and venison. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall had a slightly unusual and very simple Sausage and redcurrant salad which might be worth trying for example. As to jams there were suggestions of adding mint, or mixing with raspberries or strawberries and I was almost tempted to do that as I have a couple of punnets of raspberries and one of strawberries in the fridge. But raspberries are too good to waste in jam I think.

Oh and they are related to gooseberries.

Anyway I feel a bit pleased with myself for making two jars of redcurrant jelly. It somehow seems pretty clever - though it wasn't at all!

"The flavour of these fruits ... is tart, yes, but also rich, luxurious and intensely aromatic." Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall