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, a bit less than kilogramme of sugar. One lemon, squeezed. That’s it. I tend to pick over the jostaberries late morning, lob them in my preserving pan, cook with the water for about ten minutes. Then 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.
Jostaberry jam
1.3 kg (3 lbs) jostaberries, picked over
2 cups water
1kg (2.2 lbs) Sugar
Juice and zest of one lemon
Some batches I forget to add the water to the jostaberries before adding the sugar. Either method works, but the trick is with two cups of water you get a little bit more jam for your hard picking work. And the skins are softer. So opt for the water method first.
Place your jars, lids, ladle and funnel into the dishwasher and run a cycle.
Place a saucer in the freezer to test for the setting point of the jam.
Place the berries and water in a heavy based saucepan and bring to the boil with the lid on to soften the fruit. This need only take about ten minutes.
Once soft, add the sugar and the juice and zest of the lemon.
Stir well and bring to the boil.
Cook, uncovered for ten minutes and start to test for the setting point. It can take anywhere between ten and twenty minutes. But there is a lot of pectin in the fruit, so be ready for the whole thing to set hard if you are inattentive.
Remove from the heat, stir well for about five minutes before bottling to evenly distribute the fruit.
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/
31st July 2023 @ 2:59 pm
I must be missing something because I’m not seeing any recipe.
31st July 2023 @ 8:35 pm
You are correct ! I just checked. The most recent upgrade of my site seems to have devoured all the recipe tabs. How frustrating. I will see if I can retrieve them for you.
12th August 2023 @ 10:40 am
I’ve added the recipe. Happy jam making.
4th August 2023 @ 3:43 pm
Do I need to add water to make my Jostaberry jam
4th August 2023 @ 8:04 pm
Hi, thank you for asking. Yes I find that if you simmer the fruit in a few cups of water before you make the jam you won’t get those tough skins. I never have an exact amount. It really is a forgiving jam.
4th August 2023 @ 8:39 pm
Thank you. I have an abundance of Josta berries this year. Lots of jam to make.!!
.
4th June 2024 @ 5:53 pm
Hi Lindy Im making jelly do you have a recipie for the skink seed etc afterpressing through a sive
6th June 2024 @ 10:35 am
Hi Jill, I just use all the extra fruit to turn into cordials or syrups. If you look under my recipe section you will see the recipes. But basically if you use the ratio of 600 grams in weight of fruit to 300 grams of sugar, one litre of water and one lemon. You can have a good bit of cordial from the leftovers. Make sure you keep it in fridge as it won’t last. But if you want to preserve it – use citric acid and sterilise your bottles.
17th November 2024 @ 7:17 pm
Thanks for the josterberry recipes.