what to do with HUGE amount of Redcurrants (also blackcurrants and gooseberries)

[OldLace]

I have an enormous Redcurrant bush in a fruit cage in the garden.
Prolific fruit - what to DO with it all?
(cant be sieving it all to make redcurrant jelly?)

Any ideas please?
Also have quite a lot of blackcurrants and goosberries
I have some freezer space and about 10 empty jam jars

Sell them to friends and neighbours? How about fruit syrup, or flavoured gin/vodka?

There are lots of Scandinavian recipes for redcurrants, Camilla Plum, Trine Hannemann or Signe Johansen are worth a try?

Beg more jam jars and make blackmred currant jam, it really is delicious. Get even more jam jars and make gooseberry chutney or jam. I like jam, can you tell?!

black/red

Redcurrant Gin

Redcurrant sorbet

Summer pudding

Redcurrant tarts

Strip from stalks, open freeze, for use in things like crumble, pies, fruit fools, same with blackcurrants.

Gooseberry jam, tart, ice cream, water ice, cook into a compote and freeze in portions to use in fruit fools, or as a sauce with fish, especially smoked mackerel.

Oooh, thanks, ideas here :)

I tried Redcurrant jam last year but the kids said it was 'gritty'
I like R/C jelly with lamb etc but cant be faffed to strain pips

Give to me because blasted saw flies destroyed my gooseberry and red currant bushes this year.

Or wash, freeze, and add to crumbles etc throughout the year.

@SquishySquirmy

I;m in Northumberland - anywhere near you? you are welcome if so.

If you have those bushes can you advise about pruning please?

I am in a rental but there is a fruit pen in the garden which is 10ft wide and 20ft long and FULL mostly of a redcurrant bush the size of a small car but also an enormous blackcurrant and some spindly raspberries. 2 gooseberry bushes about the size of a large pouffe in the open garden.

I picked the raspberries (about a 1lb as they'd gone over as I couldnt reach most of them). I now have 10ibs of gooseberries but the crop for the red and blackcurrants is not quite ripe yet but will be huge.

I'd like to prune them all properly for next year but have no clue?

I made this gooseberry ice cream recently, it was excellent:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/29/gooseberry-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall

Why would you sieve it to make jelly? You only need a jelly bag or some muslin. Cook it all up, strain it overnight add sugar to juice and boil until set. Really easy.

Summer pudding is the best. They can be frozen.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/summerpudding_90295

Freeze the berries in their clusters, just in a heap in a tub, nothing fancy. They are much easier to pull free when frozen, and can be added a handful at a time to anything else fruity.

I have two black currant bushes. I picked 19 lb of fruit last year. I freeze in 1 lb portions to use for crumbles, tarts etc and I make jam with the rest. As long as you don’t leave much at the top of the jar and use the jam circles it keeps for a couple of years. DH opened a jar of jam 2018 yesterday and it was perfect.
I don’t have red currants and that sounds an awful lot. Lakeland sell a jelly bag on legs so it just slowly strains it. Takes a lot of the work out of it. Freeze some. I would also see if you can swap some for apples or something else. Sell some. Weighed in 1lb amounts. Tell someone who is in WI and you will probably get some takers.
Gooseberries tarts, jam and chutney. Freeze some. Gooseberry fool is lovely.
If all else fails leave some for the birds. Blackbirds love blackcurrants. Ask some friends if they want any PYO, if possible.
Enjoy. Nothing like an apple and black currant crumble in the winter time. Lots of vitamin c to ward off colds. My kids rarely had winter colds.

Black currant cordial is really nice.

freeze them in portion for instant ice cream or stewed fruit.
crumble
swap for courgettes or halloween pumpkins from a neighbour

Damn. I'm desperate for gooseberries but am down south.

I'm going to have to try to grow my own.

www.internationaldessertsblog.com/german-rote-grutze-red-berry-dessert-with-cream/

This is the simplest version of this recipe I could find.

It's really tasty.

I made redcurrant cordial with ours. Boil fruit with some sugar and a bit of water, drip through muslin, transfer to bottle.

Summer pudding with redcurrants and blackcurrants! Yummy!

hisforhomeblog.com/food/canned-blackcurrants/amp/
My grandma used to make blackcurrants in a jar - basically just stored in sugar syrup. Very tasty on porridge or other breakfasts or with yogurt.

Summer pudding
Gooseberry fool
Sorbet

Make wine. You can make wine with pretty much anything.

I've made excellent cassis out of blackcurrants - it involves them, plus cheap vodka and sugar, and takes a few months to steep through (but is well worth it). Might be able to do the same with redcurrants, but I have to say I find redcurrant jelly quite easy - I strain the cooked fruit through muslin overnight (and just hang the muslin on a kitchen cupboard door handle - no fancy kit involved) . I always keep some soft fruit in the freezer for the winter - just cooking them with a bit of sugar can make a nice breakfast cereal/yoghurt topping or indeed a crumble base. I found I still had some in the freezer as this year's season approached, and turned them into a very succesful chutney, together with some dried fruit left over from Christmas!

We put them in smoothies. Add some sweeter fruits like raspberries and strawberries, they're delicious. We have an allotment and have got loads of fruit this year, picked lots last night. I love them mixed in with some yogurt and honey.

With blackcurrant I pick and prune at the same time. Wait until they are all ripe then cut off the branches with fruit right at the base. Then you sit and pick off the fruit.
Mine seem to thrive on this brutal method and it makes picking so much easier.
I freeze the lot and cook as required. I also cba to top and tail and it doesn't seem to matter.

Do you have the time to look into getting a license or whatever to flavour and sell gin?

I've just started my own - just for me though so don't know about the ins and outs.

Northumberland has lots of farm shops / cafes etc so a potential market.

Cheap gin and about 3 or 4 weeks in a jar. Decant into bottles with a nice label!

I'm making mine for my wedding favours (weirdly in Northumberland) but they'd be ace as additions to anywhere local doing afternoon tea etc too.

Farm shops might just take the soft fruit if you can punnet it up, I don’t know what supply is like with the travel restrictions for pickers?