How to make Blackcurrant Jam
Blackcurrant Jam is one of the easiest jams you can make. Blackcurrants are naturally high in pectin which is the agent required to make the jam set. You don’t need to add any additional pectin or lemon juice in this recipe, just blackcurrants, water, and sugar.
Jam – A Family Tradition
Making jam is a family tradition. I can remember picking blackcurrants with my Granny in her garden. She then made Blackcurrant Jam.
My Mum is a very accomplished jam maker and I’ve yet to taste anything to better her Raspberry Jam. I started making jams in my teens and I’ve never stopped.
A good year for blackcurrants
This year has been particularly good for blackcurrants in my garden. We had a warm dry spell in early summer when the flowers were pollinated and ‘set’.
Since then we have had an awful lot of rain, not great for other things, but the blackcurrants absolutely love it and are nice and big and juicy and perfect for Blackcurrant Jam!
What are blackcurrants?
Blackcurrants are small tart berries that grow on a woody shrub. They are easy to grow in the garden and will even grow well in containers.
Blackcurrants ripen in mid-summer and are ready to pick when they turn from dark red to black.
How to Grow Blackcurrants
Read my Step-by-Step Guide: How to Grow Blackcurrants for all the information you need to successfully grow your own blackcurrants in the garden or in a container.
Can I use frozen blackcurrants to make Blackcurrant Jam?
Frozen blackcurrants are perfect for jam. Just put them in the pan with the water the same as fresh blackcurrants.
Blackcurrants freeze really well. You simply place them on a fray in a single layer. Open freeze and then put into a freezer-proof container.
You can also buy frozen blackcurrants if you are not able to find them in the shops.
How to make Blackcurrant Jam
I’ll take you through the steps to make blackcurrant jam. There really aren’t too many because it is a very easy jam to make.
Soften the blackcurrants
Place the blackcurrants and water into a large pan and simmer until soft.
Add the sugar
Add the sugar and stir over low heat until all the sugar crystals have dissolved.
Bring the jam to a rolling boil
Bring the Blackcurrant Jam to a rolling boil and boil for about 15 minutes
Take off the heat and test for set
Take the pan off the heat and set aside while you test for set (see below). If the jam is not set put the pan back on the heat and bring back to a rolling boil for another 5 minutes.
Pot the Blackcurrant Jam into jars
Use a ladle and jam funnel or a jug to pour the hot jam into sterilised jars. Fill right to the top so that the minimum amount of air is left between the jam and the lid.
Seal the jars
While the jam is still hot, seal the jars with sterilised lids. Check that the lids are still tight once the jam has cooled. Add labels if liked.
Jam Making FAQs
Why do I need a large pan to make jam?
You need a large pan to make jams because when the sugar boils it rises in the pan. It will boil over if you don’t have a big enough pan.
How do I sterilise my jam jars?
I sterilise my jam jars and metal lids by thoroughly washing and rinsing them. I then put them, still wet, upside down onto a baking tray and place it in the oven at 150C just before I start to make the jam.
The water creates steam which helps to sterilise the jars. I take them out of the oven and fill them with the hot jam, then put on the lids. There are other methods but this is how I sterilise my jars.
Do I need to water bath the jam?
No. I have never water-bathed jam. All my jams, jellies, and marmalade stay in good condition for at least a year kept in a cool dry cupboard.
In some countries, water bathing is common practice and often used for lower sugar recipes.
What does a Rolling Boil look like?
I learned about jam-making from my Mum and my grandmother. A lot of what you learn in cooking and baking is very visual. It’s much easier to understand when you can see what you are aiming for.
So here is a little help with the main techniques for jam making. The video above will show you what a ”rolling boil’ looks like.
The Wrinkle Test – is the jam going to set?
Once the jam has boiled, you will need to check if it will set (firm up) once cooled. There are many different ways to test for setting point.
- Use a jam thermometer
- The ‘flake’ test where it drips off your spoon
- The wrinkle test
I always use the wrinkle test it is simple and has not failed me yet.
How do I do the wrinkle test for jam?
Place some saucers in the fridge before you start making the jam because the cold plate helps speed up the cooling of the jam for the test.
Boil your jam for 15 minutes, take the pan off the heat, and put a teaspoon of the jam onto one of the cold saucers.
Place the saucer in the fridge and leave for 5 minutes. Then remove the saucer and push your finger across the jam. If it wrinkles, you can skim off the froth and pot up your jam. See the quick video above.
My jam didn’t wrinkle – what do I do?
If you haven’t got a wrinkle, put the pan back on the heat and boil for another five minutes, then test for set on another cold saucer.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Blackcurrant Jam on bread or toast. The sharp tang of the blackcurrants is tempered by the sweet sugar giving it a fresh and delicious flavour.
You can use blackcurrant jam to make jam tarts, as a topping for cheesecake, to fill a sponge cake, or swirl it into yogurt to make your own fruit corners. Or try my recipe for Baked Blackcurrant Swirl Cheesecake
More Jam Recipes from Farmersgirl Kitchen
More Jam Recipes
- Easy Redcurrant and Port Jelly – An ideal jelly to serve with lamb or with cold meats from Kavey Eats
- Fig and Strawberry Jam – I’ve never thought of combining figs and strawberries but Kate at The Veg Space has created this amazing jam, well worth trying if you love figs
How to make Blackcurrant Jam
Ingredients
- 450 grams (3½ cups) blackcurrants
- 450 millilitres (1 pt) water
- 550 grams (2½ cups) sugar
Instructions
- Place 3 saucers into the fridge to use when testing for set.
- Remove the stalks, then wash the fruit.
- Simmer gently with the water until the skins are really soft.
- Add the sugar
- Stir until dissolved
- Boil rapidly (rolling boil) until setting point is reached.
- I suggest you boil for 15 minutes then test for set, if not set test again after 5 minutes.
It’s very true, there is nothing better than homemade jam and I bet your blackcurrant one tastes amazing with those plump fruits! Thanks for linking to my jams:-)
Thanks Camilla. I know you are a prize winning jam-maker, so I graciously accept your compliment 😉
Those blackcurrants look so good, it is lovely to grow your own fruit then use it to make jam. I must try this with my remaining blackcurrants! Thanks for linking to my jam too
Thanks Lucy, I love your blackcurrant curd recipe too. It’s great to share our recipes, especially for seasonal fruit.
Ooh so jealous of your blackberries, we had a lovely blackberry bush when I was growing up which has now gone. really miss them each summer, will keep a look out at the local market.
It’s funny how closely linked blackcurrants are to childhood. I guess they were such a seasonal treat that were only grown in our gardens, hope you manage to find some blackcurrants at the market.
Ahhhh blackcurrants I mean!!!
I have still never made my own jam, but I think this has to be the year. After we go fruit picking of course!
Definitely this year, before you get too busy 😉
There’s nothing as satisfying as preserving fruit it veg you’ve grown or foraged yourself, is there? Love the rich colour of this!
So true, Kavey.
I have always wanted to make homemade jam, but always thought it looked complicated, knowing that blackcurrants are high in pectin and as you said a good place to start, I think I will need to try this recipe/method out!!
I hope you do try, Lisa. It’s not difficult and homemade jam is so good.
Oh I’m totally with you on homemade jam being SO much better than anything you can buy in shops, I like quite a soft set, and love being able to make jam exactly how I want it. I’m still in mourning for a huge blackcurrant bush we had in our allotment which we had to give up last year, luckily I still have a bit of jam and crème du cassis to keep me going!
What a shame you had to give up the blackcurrant bush, Kate. Hope you manage to find some blackcurrant to build up your supply again.
I love the soft set jam as well . The jam I make probably doesn’t cook long enough to make the berries soft, so this year I will try this recipe and cook the berries until they are much softer. Do you take out the currant seeds or leave them in? Thanks much Ann
Hi Ann, yes cook the currants until nice and soft before you add the sugar. They won’t soften after the sugar is added. For a soft set, test the jam a little earlier, removing the pan from the heat while you check, and as soon as you see a hint of a wrinkle in your wrinkle test it is ready to put into jars.
Thanks I just made the jam today with frozen currants, cooked fruit for 15 minutes and it is thinner than my usual recipe but next time I won’t boil as long, as you suggested, as soon as wrinkle test is positive….no Covid pun intended. Thanks for your reply
It’s always tricky, but once you ‘get your eye in’ you’ll be able to get the set you want. I don’t always get it right myself ?
Oh, this looks soooo summery! Black currant jam is my favourite as well, but only homemade one… The store bought jams are usually too sweet and don’t have enough flavour.
I totally agree Margot, homemade is the only way to go!
Mmm, you can’t beat homemade jam, unless you boil it so much it goes hard. Who me?
Been there done that! Fortunately, blackcurrants don’t need much boiling.
You are so lucky to have blackcurrants so available! Did you know they were outlawed in the US for many years? Terrible! I’m on a mission, though- I want to spread the word here in America to teach everyone about this wonderful fruit, no that they are no longer illegal!
Oh my goodness, I didn’t know that Christina. I wonder why? Was there some kind of disease that they carried? They seem so innocuous it’s hard to believe they would be illegal. Good luck with your campaign.
Thank you very much for entering your jam in our inheritance recipes. We have a lovely collection of preserves now. However, I’d never heard of berries jam always jelly so that is excellent news as it’s less fiddly x
I’m all for less fuss, Solange. Thanks for your mind comment.
Tried your blackcurrant jam recipe today using fruit from my garden. Last time (and the only time) I made jam it was like toffee but this time it worked beautifully. Thank you so much:)
That’s great to hear, Carolyn. Enjoy your jam ?
Can you use frozen blackcurrants if so how much water do you use
Hi Janet, yes you can use frozen blackcurrants. I just use the same quantity of water and haven’t had any problems. Enjoy your jam making ?
Thank you I will try this
I was super lucky to find 3 established blackcurrant bushes in the courtyard when we moved in to our house 5 years ago. They were so overgrown at first I just hacked them back not knowing what they were. The next year we had amazing fruit! I usually make it into jelly rather than jam as my kids were fussy with the berries but will try both this year as looks too be a good crop!
Thanks
Michelle. X
I’ve never made blackcurrant jelly. I just make jam because you get more bulk with the whole fruit. I hope you will try the recipe and let me know how you get on.
This looks lovely, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually tired blackcurrant jam. I’m going to try and get a bush for my garden next year so hopefully power jam is in my future!
This looks so tasty. I’ve not made jam before and this is making me want to!
I’m so glad that my recipe has had this effect! Jam making is a bit like bread making, it seems more difficult than it is and once you start you just keep wanting to make more!
Mmmm – I haven’t had blackcurrant jam for yonks, but my mum used to make it every year growing up from blackcurrants in our garden – so delicious! Eb x
Nice that the jam brings back memories. Time to make some jam memories with your own kids maybe?
Thanks for sharing, this jam looks amazing perfect to go with anything 🙂
Nic | Nic’s Adventures & Bakes
Thank you, Nic. It is a really delicious jam and so easy to make.
Hi, I’m looking for a low sugar recipe and this looks great. I’ve just seen the nutritional information underneath the recipe and it says 5g is over 1200 calories?!
Hi Matt, thanks for pointing out that error. The jam is just over 100 kcal per serving, it is not a low sugar jam but a traditional recipe with high sugar intended to preserve the currants for a least a year. Unfortunately, reducing the sugar content in this recipe will affect the ability of the jam to set and it would be more like a fruit compote and have a short shelf life even in the refrigerator.
Hi, thanks for the clarification about low sugar jams. I had seen a tempting chia and raspberry recipe, but the jam only lasted for a week in the fridge. I’m going to pick some more black currants today and give your recipe a go soon! Thanks.
Simple, straight forward jam, with a wonderful taste. My gran would have loved it, and she would have laughed at me, as I managed to take my eye off the pan for a minute and ended up with slightly thicker jam than I aimed for. Taste is still fab, and still spreads easy enough, so no real harm done, just showed that your recipe is spot on!
It’s so easy to do, Izzi. Glad you are enjoying the jam.
Really nice. I’ve never used water in a jam recipe I just use fruit on its own but I am not sure if that’s OK. It seems good as I don’t sue so much sugar and usually use half the amount of sugar than fruit which I guess is the same ration of a third of the volume of the jam. I haven’t done blackberries often so hopefully my plan works out. You can’t really go wrong with currants I think because even if it ends up not set by the sugar the pectin over time forms it into a jelly after a few months in the drfrudge not that it will last that long even if it doesn’t set well. I’ve also never rolled the boil for that long I just let it simmer slowly for until it smells right and then I roll it for about five minutes or until I get a skin … But maybe this is because with the lack of water it would burn if I rolled it so long. It seems to work but we shall see now how this lot go and if it doesn’t work out I’ll come back and try your method,! There’s far too many berries this year I couldn’t get them all and even the birds seemed to leave them and not be bothered whereas other years they’re waiting for the morning to grab what they can before I get out. Lol!
There’s no one way to make jam, if it works for you, go for it!
Hi, your jam looks delicious! I’ve just picked a big load of blackcurrants with the kids and looked up jam recipe’s (which I’ve never made before) and found your recipe.
How many jars would on need based on your recipe with a standard shop jam jar?
Hi there, this recipe makes approximately 3-4 jars of jam. You can double the quantities if you have more fruit but I don’t recommend increasing any further. Better to make another batch.
Hello from Canada.
My sister and I just made your jam recipe. We make other jams but this is the first time trying black current jam. The flavour is delicious, but as a jam we failed miserably. It’s extremely thick, like fruit leather thick!! Not sure what we did wrong. We simmered it initially for approximately 15 minutes to soften the fruit then boiled it for 15 minutes. Is this possibly where we went wrong, too much cooking time? Any help for next time will be greatly appreciated.
Hi Mary Jane
Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure what happened with your jam. The only thing I can think is that when you cooked the blackcurrants to soften them, they lost too much liquid. I’ve made this recipe many times and no problems but the berries and conditions are not always exactly the same. I would certainly recommend trying a shorter time for the rolling boil and testing sooner. Hopefully that will work for you.
What size jars do you use?
I use medium glass jars 1lb (380 ml) for nost of my jams but as I reuse all kinds of jars I will use whatever I have to hand.