Redcurrant shrub

On sunday night it was the Allotment society Halloween event. What a magnificent display of pumpkins. Dorothy surpassed herself this year for size and colour.  Marjorie Pritchard was there, you know heavily built, low centre of gravity, always has a slight whiff of soil, iron. Anyway she was taking all the credit for the Red Currant shrub - which she had actually made to my recipe - as follows:

N.B. These are green UNRIPE currants - you need red ripe ones - hence the name - Red Currants

Red Currant Shrub
(makes) 1 litre
300ml strained red currant juice
600ml of good brandy
finely grated zest of a lemon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 stick of cinnamon
300g brown sugar


To make the redcurrant juice wash the berries - having removed all stalky bits - put them into your preserving pan and with water - allow 200ml of water for every 0.5kg of currants - (I do sometimes mix my currants, black and red) - Now when the berries are squishy - (at least half an hour) - You need to strain them through a jelly bag overnight.

Next day measure the juice so you get the proportions correct. Then mix the brandy the juice and the spices all together in a wide necked jar and leave it for at least a week in a cool dark place. Now it will have developed a gel - but don't worry this dissolves when we do the next bit which is to heat it in a pan with the sugar. Then we strain it and decant into sterilised bottles, seal and leave for several months.

Well I bear no grudges. Several people commented to me that my chutney was a far tastier condiment to accompany the roast ham than Marjorie's Runner Bean Pickle. You will have to wait for those recipes as times winged chariot is drawing near and I must dash to the WI bonfire on the heath with potatoes already in their foil jackets.