Easy Blackcurrant Jam Recipe (No Pectin)
This quick and easy blackcurrant jam recipe is made in under 20 minutes with just 2 ingredients. Intensely rich, tangy and fruity, it’s the taste of summer in a jar.
Servings 4 250 ml (8 oz) jars
Equipment
- Preserving pan or similar sized pan
- Digital scale
- Measuring jug
- Digital thermometer
- long wooden spoon
- 2 - 3 saucers/small plates
- jam funnel
- ladle
- 4 x 250 ml (8 oz) glass jars with lids
Ingredients
- 400 g / 14 oz washed & stemmed blackcurrants fresh or frozen
- 250 ml / 1 cup water
- 600 g / 3 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Before you start, see Notes 1 and 2 below.
- Place the blackcurrants and water into a preserving pan or similar.
- Bring slowly to a boil (on a medium heat), then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the blackcurrant skins are well softened. Test by piercing or rubbing a cooled berry between your fingers. (If you're not keen on whole fruit in your jam, then you could use a potato masher to squish the blackcurrants at this stage, but I didn't.)
- Add the granulated sugar over a low heat and stir until completely dissolved. The mixture must not bubble, or this will result in crystallised jam. When you drag a wooden spoon over the base of the pan, there should be no crunching sounds.
- Turn the heat up to high and bring the pan to a rolling boil. From this point time for 1 minute, or if you have a digital thermometer, boil until the temperature reaches 104.5°C / 220.1°F. Mine took 1 minute and 30 seconds to reach this temperature. See Note 3 below.
- Remove the pan from the heat and test for set (even if you’ve used a thermometer) by placing a few drops of jam onto a chilled saucer and placing it in the fridge for 30 seconds. Then push a finger through the jam, which will crinkle if it’s reached the setting point.
- If the setting point hasn’t been reached, continue boiling the jam for 30 seconds at a time and retest until it reaches the setting point.
- Eradicate any scum (air bubbles) from the jam by stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until it dissipates.
- Pot up the hot jam using a ladle and jam funnel into hot sterilised jars. Allow to cool before labelling and serving. See FAQs for storage advise.
Video
Notes
- Place 2-3 saucers/plates in the freezer for the chilled plate test.
- Sterilise 4 x 250 ml (16 oz) jars and lids (or variation thereof). Start by washing the jars in hot soapy water (or take them straight from the dishwasher). Then fill with boiling water, empty, and place in the oven for 20 minutes at 140°C, 120°C fan, 284°F, gas mark 1. Leave the jars in the oven until the jam is ready to pot up. Washed lids should be sterilised by immersing in boiling water and then left to drain.
- I would usually advise stirring with a wooden spoon, but this jam was ready so quickly that it didn’t seem necessary. If you’re making a larger batch, which will take longer to boil, then definitely stir regularly to avoid the sugar burning on the base of the pan.