blackcurrant chia jam

Growing your own, I have discovered, is all about celebrating successes and skimming over the failures; after all, there's always next year!

Listed amongst the failures, so far this year, are the strawberries; the cold, wet June meant that those that eventually ripened have been quickly munched by slugs, but top of the list of successes are the gooseberries ( see previous post) and blackcurrants.

The blackcurrant bush is heavy with fragrant fruit.

Tiny Girlie has requested more blackcurrant cordial, and with a bumper harvest, I decided to also make blackcurrant jam -

blackcurrant chia jam to be precise.

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I have been experimenting with chia jam for a while and finally think I have found a recipe which ticks all the boxes.

Chia seeds are the edible seeds of a flowering plant in the mint family.

They are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and fibre and have the ability to absorb up to 12 times their weight in liquid producing a gel like consistency.

This makes them very useful as a way of making jam without the need for large amounts of sugar.

In fact, the following recipe uses no refined sugar, but is sweetened with Medjool dates and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup.

I also added vanilla paste as I think this enhances the flavour of the blackcurrants.

The 'jam' has a nice spoonable consistency and a lovely intense flavour and is very quick and easy to make, but it won't have the long shelf life of normal jam. Keep it in the fridge and use within about 7-10 days.

If you decide to try making the jam, here are some additional notes:

• Do try to use Medjool dates. Although they are more expensive than normal dates, I think they are worth it in this recipe.
• The quantities given make one medium sized jar of jam.
• Do make sure the jar is thoroughly sterilised. I washed mine in hot soapy water then put it in the oven and heated it to 150c for about 15 minutes.
• You do need a high powered blender to successfully make the jam. I used my Nutribullet.

Speak soon.

Annie

x

p.s. I realised that if you are reading this on an iphone or similar, the recipe details are very small, in which case do zoom in on that bit!!