Redcurrant-o-rama!

Earlier this week I was given 10lbs of redcurrants.  ;o)  What's a girl to do?  Well, this girl gets her preserving pan out!  ;o)  First on the menu was chutney.  I've never made chutney with redcurrants so I hope it turns out to be tasty.  The recipe consisted of redcurrants, cooking apples, raisins, sugar, vinegar and spices:

Then it's just cooked.....

...until it thickens up.  Chutney isn't a fast moving thing, it bubbles away at it's leisure until it reaches it's destination.  ;o)  It probably wasn't my brightest idea ever to turn the kitchen into a steamy chutney den in this current spate of hot weather!  However, eventually I got there...

I now have ten pots of redcurrant chutney gracing my pantry shelves, looking forward to trying it in a few weeks time when it has brewed.  ;oD

On the evening of Chutney Day I started the process of making redcurrant jelly, which I love!  I ended up with nine pots of jelly the next day and very yummy it is too.  ;o)  No pics of the jelly making process as it totally escaped me!  I want to try making mint jelly this year as I adore that ~ my favourite sandwich is lettuce and mint jelly ~ but have never yet made it.

Next on the redcurrant hit list was muffins from this recipe.  These turned out nice if a little flat! 

They panned out at only about 165 calories too so quite a healthy muffin at that.  You can't really tell but the muffin papers are flower shaped ones that I received in a Swap-Bot baking swap recently.

Last to roll off the redcurrant production line yesterday was redcurrant vinegar.  I haven't ever made a flavoured vinegar so I thought I'd have a go as I'm experimenting with salad dressings alot more these days.  It was very simple, 1 1/2 cups of redcurrants into a jar with a generous pinch each of sugar and salt, smooshed up with a masher and then 1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar poured over the top.  This is what it currently looks like :

  

                                                 

It has to spend a week in a cool dark place and then be strained ready to use.  Looking forward to giving it a whirl in a dressing next weekend.  ;o)

And just a random foodie thing before I go on my way....if you've ever heard me rant about crustless bread you'd have been surprised to find me in Tesco yesterday buying a loaf of the heinous product!  The reason?  My lovely daughter had braces fitted on Monday and has been wasting away on a diet of noodles, rice pudding and yogurts but has now progressed sufficiently to be able to gently chew crustless bread and butter, bless her!  My hone made bread isn't soft enough for her to tackle yet hence my crime against food yesterday!