After building a Moose fence around my Black Currant bushes several years ago they are doing much better. I don’t get the moose damage every winter like I did before. They would eat the bushes down to nubs and I was forces to replant several times. They were loaded with berries this year. I picked about 7 lbs of ripe Black Currants from 4 bushes. It was time to make some jam. After washing and removing stems and leaves I ended up with a little over 3 Qts of berries or about 6 lbs of prepared berries. I did some research online to find a good recipe. So tonight I made Sugar Free Black Currant Jam.
I prefer to make sugar free jams. So I used a special Ball brand No Sugar needed Pectin and Stevia In The Raw a zero calorie sweetener mix that contains no Erythritol. This product measures the same as table sugar. Black currants are very tart when unsweetened, so sweetener is usually added to them. The berries are high in pectin, making them good for preserves.
Sugar Free Black Currant Jam
13 cups washed Black Currants
1 tsp Ascorbic Acid - vitamin C
3 C water
Pre-sterilize cleaned canning jars and lids in boiling water while preparing jam. Combine berries, Ascorbic acid, and water and heat to a boil - stirring often. Use a potato masher to break up berries. Add Stevia mix and stir to dissolve. Return to an active boil and add Ball brand No-Sugar Needed Pectin. When boil resumes stir and cook for 1 minute. Fill jars and apply lids. Water bath process 35 minutes for pint jars and 25 minutes for half pint jars.
Place jars on a rack to cool. This recipe made 7 pints of sugar free Black Currant jam. The refrigerator test seemed to gel just fine. A taste test was good but a little tart. Black currants can be naturally tart and next time I may eliminate adding extra Ascorbic acid. After tasting my Black Currant jam a few weeks later I think this batch turned out just fine and is one of my favorite homemade preserves. The flavor is tart like Gooseberries and they are both in the currant family. Black Currants are considered a very high acid fruit with average pH of 2.9 (range 2.6-3.1) according to a commercial food industry resource and are considered safe for Water-Bath processing.
*Always Follow:
USDA SAFE FOOD PROCESSING RULES