It’s a sad fact though that you can source Spanish blueberries here a lot easier than a local superb fruit like the blackcurrant. Over 95% of the UK and Irish crop goes into the production of cordial and the rest is quite elusive. Good greengrocers or farmshops should stock them at this time of year or you might be lucky enough to know someone who grows them.
There are a couple of pick your own farms in the country – mainly frequented by families and diehard jam makers! Most of the year my freezer stock is about 75% blackcurrants – there’s something comforting about eating a quintessentially summer fruit in the bleak mid winter. Blackcurrants are versatile and can be used in hot and cold puddings. A simple fool is a lovely way of showcasing the fruit – cook with sugar, puree and fold into whipped cream.
They also work well with apples in a pie or a crumble for something hot. My recipe this week is for a clafoutis, a French baked pancake. Toss the blackcurrants in sugar and leave for an hour then place in a baking dish.
Top with a light batter and bake to golden perfection. Serve straight from the oven with ice-cream. That combination of hot fruity pudding and ice cold ice-cream is hard to beat.
Redcurrants are another elusive fruit. A few years ago I was staying in a hotel in the midlands of Ireland . It was midsummer and they had a beautiful walled garden in the grounds.
I was astonished to see the fruit bushes groaning with redcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries that weren’t being picked. That evening in the restaurant the choice of desserts were pineapple, chocolate and mango based. I asked the waiter why they didn’t use the currants in the garden.
Apparently the chef could only make so much jelly...
I suggested they make it and sell it rather than let it go to waste! Redcurrants are in full flow at the moment and I’ve added a recipe here for jelly flavoured with meadowsweet which is the white fluffy plant that grows at the side of the road. It smells of marzipan and works really well with the sharp fruits. There’s effort in making a jelly – boiling, straining etc but when you pour the molten jewel like confection into glass jars, there is nothing as satisfying.
You can pickle them too to serve with oily fish, cured meats and cheese. Unlike redcurrants and blackcurrants raspberries are readily available now. The more the season goes on the more intense their flavour.
I like them served with some good local yoghurt and a swirl of honey. They also work well with meringue and the recipe here is a riff on a raspberry ruffle – coconut and chocolate meringues, topped with a chocolate ganache and raspberries perched on top. A match made in heaven.
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