OUR OWN LOCAL SUPERFOOD.
I’m picking our blackcurrant bushes today. It’s been a really good year for fruit and one type that really does well in our climate is the blackcurrant. Easy to grow in most soils and versatile, you will never be short of vitamin C if you have a bush or two in the garden.
Blackcurrants have been used in jams, juices, yoghurts, pies, wines and ice cream for a long time and have grown in Europe for over five hundred years. Herbalists used them since the middle ages to treat bladder stones, liver disorders, and blended into syrups for coughs and lung ailments.
Blackcurrants don’t just taste delicious, eating them can provide your body with vital nutrients and help to protect your body against loads of ills including cardiovascular disease and ageing.
Let me show you some of the fantastic things you can do with this Superfood that doesn’t have to travel the world for you to get its benefits….
BALCKCURRANT RECIPES
Here’s a Victorian recipe to start with;
Currant water.
Use a ratio of 3-1 of currants to raspberries. Crush them and press the juices out and add 2 pints of water with about 0.5 kg of sugar. Pour into bottles and as the recipe goes- stand them in iced water… We can just put them in the fridge….
More up to date recipes are:
Blackcurrant, apple and elderflower mix
This simple concoction is light, fruity and a perfectly refreshing drink for summer afternoons, full of lots of protective antioxidant power from the phytochemicals in blackcurrants and apples.
Ingredients for each glass:
· 45g fresh blackcurrants
· 160ml good quality cloudy apple juice
· 10ml elderflower cordial
In a nutshell: Press the blackcurrants through a sieve, leaving the pulp to go into the compost bin. Add the blackcurrant juice you have made to the other ingredients and stir them together.
Ooh it’s windy
This one is ideal drink to sip if you're feeling nauseous or have excess wind. Fennel is the ingredient in baby's gripe water that relieves flatulence. It is thought that the high level of certain acids in blackcurrants also help to inhibit the bacterial activity of Salmonella and E. coli, and enhance the activity of friendly Lactobacilli. It’s perfect for getting back on your feet.
Ingredients for each glass:
· 30g of fresh blackcurrants
· 180ml chilled fennel "tea" (made with 200ml hot water and 2 tsp fennel seeds, brewed for 10 minutes and then sieved)
· 2 tsp sugar
In a nutshell: Press the blackcurrants through a sieve, again leaving the pulp. Stir the blackcurrant juice you have made into the fennel tea, and add the sugar.
Build you up
This drink contains a quarter of the RDA of calcium, so is perfect for helping to strengthen your bones. The probiotic yoghurt can also help to ease minor digestive troubles whilst the vanilla is incredibly soothing too.
Ingredients for each glass:
· 30g of blackcurrants
· 120ml vanilla flavour probiotic low fat yoghurt
· 80ml apple juice
Directions: Press the blackcurrants through a sieve, leaving the pulp again. Add the blackcurrant juice you have made to the other ingredients and stir them together.
Blackcurrant Smoothie
Serves 1
· 115g/4oz fresh or frozen blackcurrants
· 1 small ripe banana
· 200ml apple juice
· 2 tbsp plain yoghurt
In a nutshell: Put all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and serve.
Blackcurrant Ice Cream
Ingredients:
· 250 g blackcurrants
· 3 tbsp orange juice
· 1/2 cup + 1 tsp (75 g) 3 oz icing sugar (confectioners sugar), sifted
· 284 ml whipping cream blackcurrants and whipped cream to decorate
Cooking Instructions:
1.Puree the blackcurrants and orange juice, then stir in the icing sugar.
2. Whip the cream until fairly thick and fold into the blackcurrant mixture.
3. Spoon the mixture into a 500 g loaf tin. Cover with cling film or foil and freeze until firm
4. Turn out on to a plate and decorate with blackcurrants and whipped cream before serving.
Serving Amount Serves 6…OR 3 if they want loads….
BLACKCURRANT FACTS
· Blackcurrants promote antioxidant activity. They also have high concentrations of the beneficial nutrients of Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium, Vitamins A and B amongst others.
· Blackcurrants are especially rich in Vitamin C - containing more than three times as much as an orange.
· Blackcurrants can even help prevent joint inflammation, eyestrain and urinary infections.
BLACKCURRANT TIPS
· Make Blackcurrant tea: Dry the leaves and add to your normal tea or use a few fresh leaves.
· Birds can be a problem. Various make-shift ways of preventing fruit damage by birds have been concocted over the years but none works as well as a fruit cage.
· Harvesting and Storing Blackcurrants. Blackcurrants are ready for harvest when the fruits are very nearly black. Always try and pick them in dry conditions - wet blackcurrants store very badly and will quickly go mouldy. If the intention is to store the currants for a few days, it's best to pick an entire truss, which will keep for longer. Blackcurrants will keep best dry in the fridge and will last for five or six days.
