Sweet And Savoury Blackcurrant Recipes

Sweet, juicy, plump and purple, blackcurrants are a joy. The fruit is only in season for a few weeks in Britain during the summer, so it’s important to make the most of blackcurrants while they’re around, and we don’t just mean by drinking as much Ribena as you can.

Turn them into jam, eat them on your breakfast porridge, put them in a Victoria sponge instead of strawberries, have them on your salads, bake them into pies: the possibilities are endless.

Alternatively, take inspiration from these recipes that we’ve narrowed down from the wealth of ideas involving blackcurrants out there and enjoy a three-course meal based entirely around the fruit. Or, you know, just try one of these ideas to prevent a vitamin C overload.

Homemade blackcurrant cordial is a world away from the cordial you buy in the supermarket. Its taste is so much more powerful and delicious, and it’s gorgeous mixed with lemonade, sparkling water or even a little vodka for a more grown-up drink to go with your dinner.

You only need a couple of drops in a glass before topping it up with water, and you’ll still get that beautiful blackcurrant taste.

A Year in Redwood has a post that explains how to make your own using just blackcurrants, water, sugar and a little red wine vinegar, which helps to stop the cordial from going off too quickly. For an even more summery drink, add some elderflower syrup.

Ok, so serving up a lobster, fennel and blackcurrant salad at home might seem a little (well, a lot) posh, but for a special dinner, it’s worth the effort. Follow this recipe from The British Larder if you want to feel like you’re dining in Downton Abbey for the evening.

Or, you could just take inspiration from this recipe and use something a little more purse-friendly like salmon and combine it with the fennel and blackcurrants in a salad with chopped lettuce and fresh tomato – you’ll still feel pretty fancy.

Duck usually comes with orange or plum sauce at the Chinese, but it also goes really well with a sauce made from blackcurrants, like in this recipe from Food and Fitness Always.

The recipe calls the sauce a jus, but don’t let yourself be put off by the chef jargon and just think of it as similar to gravy – just one made from stock, blackcurrant jam, red wine, butter and seasoning instead of meat drippings.

This blackcurrant sauce would also work with pork, and it’s probably best to serve the meal with something relatively plain like boiled potatoes and seasonal vegetables so as not to distract from that gorgeous sauce.

Lemon and lime are the usual options for a drizzle cake, but putting blackcurrants in instead of citrus fruit makes for a really different cake that bursts with flavour in the mouth.

The English Kitchen’s blackcurrant drizzle cake recipe is gorgeously moist, with zingy lemon perfectly complementing those brilliant blackcurrants, as the fruits soak down into the cake, creating a pudding-like dessert that’s crying out to be covered in double cream.

There are simply too many blackcurrant-based desserts to choose from, which is why we’re suggesting two for our blackcurrant bonanza meal. Remember, prime blackcurrant season is only short, so have a slice of each.

Enter dessert option number two: lemon and blackcurrant cheesecake, as made by Rachel Cotterill. This cake is super simple to make, and would work well as one big dessert or lots of individual mini ones. Switch up the lemon for lime if you want something a little bit different.

If you just so happen to have any leftover blackcurrants after all that – although we’re not quite sure how you would – then turn them into these yummy energy snack bars from The Veg Space, which are ideal for breakfast or elevenses for an energy boost.

They’ve also got a good dose of beetroot, giving them a fabulous purple colour and extra sweetness, as well as banana, oats and honey, meaning they’re absolutely packed with goodness.

Beware you might look as though you have ‘red wine lips’ after eating them. We’re sure everyone will believe you first time when you tell them it was blackcurrants…