If you have never tasted currants, your first impression may be that you aren’t missing anything. Don’t give up. These beautiful little berries can be addictive although a bit of an acquired taste. We grew-up with a scraggily, misshapen currant bush that each year earned its spot in the yard by kicking out baskets and baskets of red currants. This year seems to be giving Michigan a bumper crop. You can eat them raw, make them into a sauce to accompany lamb, beef or pork and most often they are turned into a delicious sweet/tart treat in a pastry, pie or jam.
This jam recipe came together as a result of watching a bit of tennis followed by the opportunity to work from home for part of the morning.
I stopped by my mom’s for a few minutes and while we caught up on the family gossip I picked a couple of pounds of currants (with my mom’s help) in under 30 minutes …plenty for weekend jam. A lot of farmer’s markets will have them for the next few weeks. Then last night while watching the heartbreaking loss of Roddick against Lu at Wimbledon (dvr’d) I picked the berries clear of stems and leaves. If I had been focused instead of yelling advice at the line judge and wiping away the tears, I could have accomplished this task in 20 minutes or so. I only needed a pound. There is a confiture (translate jam maker) in France who uses a goose feather to pick all the seeds out of the currants for their jam. There isn’t enough tennis on tv in a year for me to hit that level. My family will have to make do.
This morning, in-between reading emails and eating my yogurt, I combined 2 cups of water with 16oz of sugar. Heat the water and sugar over med-low heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Bring up the heat enough to simmer and add 1 pound of the cleaned, whole currants. If you like your jam on the thicker side, throw in 8-10 raspberries with the simmering currants. The natural pectin in the raspberries will give it more holding power. Next add 2 good teaspoons of grated, fresh ginger and just under a teaspoon of fine sea salt. Simmer for 40-45 minutes. 
I skimmed the foam off the top a few times just to make myself feel better after reading about the French guy’s goose feather and jam.
The batch made between 2 1/2 and 3 cups of jam which is headed north with us for the holiday weekend with family. Since the jam will be gone before the weekend is over I didn’t bother to can it. There are plenty of currants left on that bush for another go next week. As the jam cools it will set. My version is not as sweet and the ginger comes through softly to give it a little different finish from traditional. As we sampled, I added in some fresh chopped mint and garnished with a few sprinkles of lemon rind. The lemon gave it some brightness that nicely offset the hot day.
Can’t wait to enjoy breakfast in Northern Michigan this weekend!
Have a great 4th everyone.
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