In June, the branches of the currant bushes bend, heavy with ripe berries. With this abundance, you can not immediately nibble all the currants from the bush. One way of preserving is juicing, which is also possible without a special device.

Currants can also be juiced without a juicer

Differences between red, black and white currants

All three currant species are botanically very closely related, which is why their cultivation conditions hardly differ from each other. The most important difference is the taste:

  • Red currants have a strong acidity, which makes them ideal as a base for jelly, cakes or other sweetened dishes. However, many do not shy away from the sour taste and like to eat the fruit pure.
  • A milder variant are white currants: apart from their color, they are identical to the red variant, but usually taste much less sour, but also less aromatic than the red relatives.
  • The black currant, also known as cassis, is particularly tart, which is why it is rarely eaten raw; With their intense taste, blackcurrants are often used as a basis for drinks.

Juice the currants in the saucepan

Purchasing a juicer, whether it's a juicer, steam juicer, or centrifugal juicer, can be very expensive. If you don't make juices regularly or don't want to have another appliance standing around in the kitchen, you can also use the following method. All you need is a saucepan, a sieve, a cheesecloth and bottles to fill.

  1. Wash the fresh currants thoroughly under running water and let them dry on a kitchen towel.
  2. Remove any leaves that may be on the panicles. You do not need to remove the green stems before juicing, which saves you a lot of manual work and time.
  3. Place the currants in a sufficiently large saucepan and add some water. If desired, you can also add sugar.
  4. Boil the currants and let them cook for about a quarter of an hour.
  5. Put the cooked mixture in a colander and push the currants through with a spoon.
  6. If there are still seeds or peel residues in the juice obtained in this way, repeat the procedure, but this time using a sieve lined with cheesecloth.
  7. Once you've filtered the juice this way, it's ready and will keep in the fridge for a few days.
  8. To preserve the juice, boil it again and fill it hot into sterile bottles, which you seal immediately. The currant juice can now be kept for several months.

You can enjoy the blackcurrant juice obtained in this way, use it as a basis for lemonade or other drinks, or process it further, for example by cooking a tasty jelly out of it.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

  • as a free PDF file to print out yourself

Category:

Vegetable garden