Whitecurrants can be used in place of, or in equal proportion to, redcurrants. Use whitecurrants to make a mint jelly, which is exquisite with lamb and /or young spring vegetables.
Currants do not require long cooking to extract their juice. Provided they are reasonably ripe when picked, 5-10 minutes should suffice rather than the three quarters of an hour stipulated in many recipes.
Do lightly press the fruit with a wooden spoon before turning into a jelly bag for overnight straining but do not be tempted to squeeze the bag again or the juice will be cloudy.
Measure the strained juice and then return to a clean pan and bring back to the boil. Only when boiling point has been reached add sugar – at the rate of 450g for every 600ml of juice. Continue boiling until setting point is reached.
If adding mint (or other herbs) briefly blanche them in white wine vinegar before adding them to the jelly once setting point has been reached – 1 tablespoonful of chopped herbs blanched in 2 tablespoonfuls of wine vinegar for every 600ml of juice.
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