Snack

Fresh Low Sugar Blackcurrant Jam (No Pectin + Small Batch)

Our very first homestead jam: low sugar, blackcurrant jam with honey, cinamon and turmeric. No pectic, ready in 25 minutes and surprisingly sour!

Prep
10 min
Cook
15 min
Total
25 min
Serves
12

By Martin · · Jump to recipe

blackcurrant jam in a pot after simmer

The very first thing we produced on our homestead: our own low sugar blackcurrant jam, sweetened with honey and spiced with cinnamon, bay leaf and turmeric. It surprises you with its sourness and texture.

When we first rented the property, it had several blackcurrant bushes that started to ripen right around the time we moved in. What better way to use them than to make a jam! We searched around and combined several recipes into this one. Because it's low sugar it doesn't keep long, but it's the best blackcurrant jam we've ever had.

Ingredients

For 12 servings

Method

  1. Prepare the blackcurrants

    After harvesting, make sure to clean any leaves or anything that could be left over on the blackcurrants. Place them into a large enough pot and add 1-2 tablespoons of water (prevents sticking).

    cleaned blackcurrants in a pot

  2. Crush & bring to simmer

    Put the pot with blackcurrants and splash of water on your stove to medium heat, as they are heating up crush about half of them to release their juices and pectin (which will make it thicker later!).

  3. Add spices

    After crushing the blackcurrants add your spices, namely turmeric, bay leaves and cinnamon.

  4. (optional) Add lemon juice

    We haven't got to try this out this year, but from some of the jam we gave away the feedback was that it could use little bit more sourness and we think adding bit of a lemon could be a nice way to spice it up! Make sure to add it with the other spices to allow the liquid to evaporate.

  5. Simmer for 12-15 minutes

    Stir frequently to prevent it from burning and to mix in the spices, the mixture should slowly start to look syrup like as the pectin activates.

    jam after simmering showing consistency

  6. Add in the honey

    Once everything has broken down remote the pot from the heat and stir in the honey. Depending on your desired consistency and flavor (heavily depends on ripeness of your blackcurrant) feel free to add more honey to match your desired taste. At this point you can remove the bay leaves.

  7. Test consistency

    Put a small spoon of the jam onto a small plate and put it in freezer or fridge for few minutes. This should thicken up to about the consistency you'll expect from the jam. Depending on how you like your jam you might want to leave it on the heat for extra few minutes if it feels too runny.

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