The heavenly gooseberry and a blackcurrant jam combination
You shouldn’t have any jostaberry bushes in your soft fruit orchard if you aren’t willing to spend Hours Each Day picking fruit.
Boy they are vigorous plants. And the geneticist in the family reminded me that this was typical of hybrid vigour.
(I had to check. Also called heterosis; the increased size, strength, etc, of a hybrid as compared to either of its parents.) So with blackcurrants and gooseberries as the parents German plant breeders have created a monster.
The most delicious monster there is. My freezer is groaning with the fruit.
And that reminds me. I need to put another batch in the second freezer I had to turn on just to accommodate the volume of fruit. You have to love a glut.
I’m going to be daring here and not give you an explicit, detailed recipe. By July in my jam producing season I can make this stuff with barely a glance at my notes or books or recipes.
Jostaberries are utterly forgiving. All you need to do is remember the simple formula. One kilogramme of fruit, one kilogramme of sugar. One lemon, squeezed. That’s it. I tend to pick over the jostaberries late morning, lob them in my preserving pan, add the sugar. Stir and forget. But cover with a lid. By the afternoon things will have magically combined. I squeeze over the lemon juice. And then once the jars, ladle, funnel and lids are sterilizing I will make a batch. I cook for about twenty minutes. But it can take thirty. The jostaberries are high in pectin, so it won’t take too long to convert the delicious glut.
I never skim the jam as it’s cooking. Why waste all that delicious product? If you are really fussed about it. Add a small teaspoon of butter at the end, stir well and the froth will disappear. Or like me, you can just stir and stir once you have cooked the jam and are letting it rest five minutes before you pour it into jars. No waste there.
I do have friends who reduce the quantity of sugar to their fruit. And that’s not a bad thing. But sugar is the preserving agent here. And when I open my jam, I want it to last in the fridge for more than a week. I do so hate seeing jam go mouldy quickly. Use my method and the jam will be perfectly preserved.
3rd July 2020 @ 12:39 pm
I was hoping to see a recipe for Gooseberry and blackcurrant Jam/Jelly, as the title suggests, yet the whole thing is about jostaberries. Very confusing. Can I make a jam using Blackcurrants and gooseberries?
3rd July 2020 @ 1:17 pm
Of course you can Clive. The reason it’s a it’s all about jostaberries is because the parentage of that fruit is gooseberry and blackcurrant. Cross the two and you get jostas. Or croseilles in French. Cassis and groseilles. So go for it.
10th July 2020 @ 3:33 pm
Groseilles are redcurrants……Jostas are from Johannesbeere and Stachelbeere
10th July 2020 @ 9:22 pm
So right! I should have written groseille à maquereau for the gooseberry. This post was written six years ago. Young and foolish and ignorant back then!
16th July 2021 @ 9:36 pm
You say Johannesbeere, I say groseille…..
whatever, this recipe is a winner. I’ve made this twice now. Gave a jar of our June 2020 to a friend just a few months back and she was blown away by it – said it was the best tasting jam she’d had for years. I didn’t tell her was simple to make….
Do you have a blackcurrant and black gooseberry recipe for cordial?
17th July 2021 @ 12:53 pm
I use this recipe for all cordials. 1 litre water, 600 grams fruit, 300 grams sugar, Juice of one lemon. And if you are going to store the cordial, 1 heaped teaspoon of citric acid. Have a look at the link here/
http://www.fruitfulresearch.com/overdosing-on-sugar/