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Red currants are in season and friends are harvesting their red currant bushes. What better way to prolong the delicious richness of flavor, than making jelly. They remind me of the wild high bush cranberries that I picked in Alaska. They are full of seeds and I choose to to use a hand-crank food mill. The result was perfect. I also took care not to overcook to prevent the pectin from setting too soon. I cooked with the berries on the stem, for the first part of cooking. I took great care to remove any tiny leaves, both green and those that browned.

Ingredients

▪ Red currants, stems on,

6 cups

▪ Water, 1 cup

▪ Sugar, 3 cups

▪ Half-pint canning jars &

lids, 5

Preparation

First I prepare the canning jars. Wash and dry and put in the water bath canner, cover with water. Heat for ten minutes, on the medium setting. While the jars heat up, rinse the currants. Handle gently. Hand pick out all leaves and remnants of dried leaves. Put in a deep cooking pot. Add one cup of water. Heat up slowly. Mash with a potato masher, to release the berry juices. Cook for only two minutes. Most of the berries will be mashed. Attach the milling disk with the smallest holes. Spoon in the cooked berries & stems. Crank it around and reverse the crank now and then. Measure the liquid you have created. I wiped out the cooking pot and reused it. Measure and add equal amount of sugar. It’s called 1:1 of berry liquid and sugar. Heat in the pot, stirring. I used a standing candy thermometer that I could program for 220 degrees. Took less than 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove all the jars from the water bath canner. Use a canning funnel and ladle and fill the half pint jars to within ¼ inch from the top. Wipe the rim of each jar. Attach the two part lids, tighten “just so” (ha! I mean to say, do not over tighten the lids). Place in the hot water, using canning tongs. Place lid on canner and turn to high. Watch for the water to boil. That may take 20 minutes. Begin timing when the water boils. Water bath for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the lid. Allow to sit another 5 minutes. Remove from the canner, with tongs and sit on a wood cutting board. Leave them alone for 24 hours. Label and store for up to a year. Makes great gifts.

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