Black Currant Jam

Name: Black Currant Jam
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Ingredients: 1 lb black currants (Note 1); 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (Note 2); scant 1 cup water; 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

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The best black currant jam recipe! Flavorful preserves that make the most of these great summer berries.

close up black currant preserves with a spoon in it.

An excellent black currant jam recipe that you probably can’t buy anywhere, so it’s better to learn how to make it yourself. The flavors are unique, different than any other jam you’ve tasted; black currants have their particular flavor, and you can really make the most of it in this recipe.

Tart, but not as tart as red currants, slightly bitter, but not so much so as to put you off, with deep earthy notes, somehow “hearty” and “smokey,” if you can actually use these words when talking about berries.

They are a real superfood containing much more Vitamin C than oranges and more antioxidants than blueberries.

The only drawback about them is that they are pretty tricky to buy. You might get lucky at the farmer’s market (if it’s a large, good one), but I have never seen them sold in the supermarket or anywhere else. That’s why I’ve planted a bush in the garden.

And should you have a glut of black currants, you could also make Crème de Cassis, Freezer Black Currant Jam, Black Currant Cordial, No-Churn Black Currant Ice Cream, Black Currant Cake, Muffins with Black Currants, or Black Currant and Apple Crumble. Or try Black Currant Jelly or Black Currant Gin.

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What do you need?
How to make black currant jam?
How long to cook the preserves?
Tips
Recipe FAQs
More berry jams
Recipe
Black Currant Jam

collage of two pictures of a jar of preserved black currants.

What do you need?

Black currants: about 500 g/ 1.1 lb/ 3 ½ cups. I mostly weigh them rather than measure them in cups. Between 3 ½ and 4 ½ cups should be ok (See Tips).
Sugar: we love this jam when made with only 350 g / 12 oz/ 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar. The jam is sweet, but you will have more of that fantastic berry taste. However, if you like it very sweet, you can increase the sugar to up to 500 g/ 1.1 lb/ 2 ½ cups.
Lemon juice: freshly squeezed
Water

How to make black currant jam?

Prepare berries: Rinse thoroughly in a sieve. Remove the stems. Set aside.
Sugar syrup: Bring the water and the sugar to a boil on medium-low heat.
Cook: Add the berries, bring to a boil, and cook on medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until the jam reaches about 104 degrees Celsius/ 220 degrees Fahrenheit (or 102 degrees Celsius/ 216 degrees Fahrenheit for an altitude of approximately 300 m/ 1000 feet or more). Use a digital instant read thermometer (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab).
Transfer to sterilized jars using a jam funnel (the Amazon affiliate link opens in a new tab).

collage of two pictures of berries in sugar syrup and then cooked in a large pot.

How long to cook the preserves?

It depends on the altitude; the higher the altitude, the lower the gel point temperature of the preserves.

Sea level – 104 C/ 220 F
300 m/ 1000 feet – 102 C/ 216 F
900 m/ 3000 feet – 101 C/ 214 F
1200 m/ 4000 feet – 100 C/ 212 F
1500 m/ 5000 feet – 99 C/ 211 F
1800 m/ 6000 feet – 98 C/ 209 F
2100 m/ 7000 feet – 97 C/ 207 F

Tips

I prefer to weigh the berries rather than measure them in cups; the black currants growing in my garden don’t have a consistent size, some are what I would call a regular size, but many are very small. And you will be amazed at how different the results are if you try to google this gram amount converted into cups; it goes from 2 to 5 cups, which is quite a lot.

The jam will foam at the beginning. However, most of the foam will disappear during the cooking process; remove what’s left with a spoon before ladling the preserves into jars.

close up overhead view of shiny preserves in a jar.

Recipe FAQs

How long to keep the jam?

Jars canned in a water bath will keep for about one year in a dark, cool place like a cellar. The refrigerated jam will keep for 4-5 months. Once you open a jar, consume it in about two weeks.

Do you need to can the jam?

I usually don’t bother with this amount; the recipe yields only three small jars of about 250 - 300 ml/ 1 - 1 ¼ cup, which I prefer to keep in the fridge.
If you make a larger batch, use the water bath canning method and process the jars for 10 minutes. Then, carefully remove it from the water bath using a jar lifter. Place on a folded kitchen towel and leave undisturbed until completely cool. Store in a dark, cool place.

More berry jams

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Blueberry Rhubarb Jam
Rhubarb Raspberry Jam
Watermelon Jam (watermelon is a type of berry)

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