Blackcurrant and peach jam...

We all love summer, don't we? I love this time of the year for many reasons, but one in particular: abundance of fresh fruit and the many ways I can preserve them for cold, long winter months. I think of it as capturing all that sunshine, warmth, freshness in a jar and enjoying it by a cosy fire on a cold, miserable day. 

I'm lucky enough to grow some of the fruit myself, blackcurrants being one of them. I took a little plastic box and decided to go and pick up all that dark purple beads. Was hoping for just a little bit, to be able to make some kind of cake or cupcakes, but ended up with... almost 800 g of the stuff! 

There was a small problem, the fruit was very sharp and sour. No sweetness in them at all! I didn't want to end up adding tons of sugar to balance it out, so decided to add some other fruit. Having peaches at hand, and not any peaches but my favourite "doughnut"/flat peaches, which were very ripe, sweet and juicy at that point, I decided to experiment a little. Below, the results of my jammy creations.

Peaches turned out to be the perfect fruit to pair with blackcurrants. They balance each other very well. You're getting a bit of sharpness form the blackcurrants, but it's toned down by sweet and mild taste of peaches. Hope you'll try and make my "combo" - fantastic on a toast!

How to make it...

Ingredients:
- 700 g blackcurrants
- 4-5 flat (doughnut) peaches, peeled and chopped roughly (if you don't have "doughnut" peaches use 3 normal peaches instead)
- 700 g caster sugar

Method:

- Take a big, non sticking pot and put all the fruit in it. 

- Add 100 ml of water and bring the fruit to simmering point. 

- Simmer for few minutes until the blackcurrants start to break, at that point add the sugar and stir well until all the sugar has dissolved completely. 

- Turn the heat up and simmer, it has to simmer lively, bubbling all the time. 

- Stir from time to time to prevent jam from sticking and burning. 

- After about 30 minutes of simmering bring to a boil - you have to raise the temperature of the jam to a setting point. 

- If your jam has reached the temperature of 105 C or above, that's it - your setting point temperature has been reached. 

- You can transfer your hot jam to sterilized jars, close securely, cover with some kitchen towel (to slow down the cooling process, and leave to cool completely. By that time the tops on your jars will seal (they will be "sunken" and you'll hear that "pop" when opening the jam jars) and you're good to keep if for good few months.

Smacznego! 


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