Rich and luxurious this blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese is just packed with flavour and wonderful on toast or as part of a cheeseboard or antipasti platter. Firmer than a jam and with red wine, this simple preserve is a grown-up treat.
It’s that time of year when my little berry patch in the garden springs to life and fairly groans with produce. I am truly blessed to have such bounty as I in no way help the work of Mother Nature. Merely leaving the bushes to get on with it year after year. Just trimming back so I can reach the fruit. Hey ho, seems to work even if not working to Titchmarsh standards.
I love using all the berries we have but I’m not a huge blackcurrant jam fan. You see as my Mum used to make the stuff all the time and tell us it was as good for you as any medicine. Obviously this put me off like a shot and I haven’t been able to embrace simple blackcurrant jam with any sort of enthusiasm since.
What is fruit cheese?
Now for those of you unfamiliar with fruit cheeses I ask that you delete the image of cows and milk from your mind right away. Fruit cheese get it’s rather odd name simply because unlike normal jam it is much firmer and can actually be sliced like ‘real’ cheese.
The most famous fruit cheese of all is the Spanish Manquillo which is made from quinces. This is often served with those beautiful Spanish cheeses at the end of a meal. Or with a chilled glass of wine and a slither of cheese on a warm afternoon.
Check out my spiced pum and lime fruit cheese as well and my Spanish style spiced cherry cheese.
To make your Blackcurrant and Rosemary Fruit Cheese you will first have to capture your blackcurrants. Now you could do this quite simply by walking into the supermarket or local farmers market and buying them in a little box, or you could take your life in your hands and brave the berry bushes and pick your own.
Picking blackcurrants
I chose the latter and sallied forth (you see one cannot sally forth into a supermarket, just doesn’t work) down the garden and into the berry patch wearing the singularly inappropriate outfit of shorts and flip-flops. Will I ever learn – simple answer here – hell no!
Anyway in I go armed only with a bag for bootie and a keen eye for searching out those little black gems hiding among the prolific greenery. I didn’t have to look far and was fairly filling my bag with bounty and not even noticing the mess I was getting into.
It wasn’t until Idgy wandered down the garden and fell over laughing saying I looked like an extra in ‘supernatural’. Covered as I was in a multitude of scratches with blood and deep red juice splattered all over the place.
So now we have the most important ingredient here is the recipe…..
Ingredients for blackcurrant fruit cheese
- 1 kilo/2 1/4 lb fresh blackcurrants
- 100ml/3 1/2 fl oz water
- 300g/11 oz sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 100ml/3 1/2 fl oz red wine
How to make fruit cheese
- Rinse the blackcurrants and pick them over to remove any of those tiny hair like stalks.
- Simmer the blackcurrants in the water over a moderate heat for 30 minutes or until tender and softened.
- Mash the blackcurrants with a potato masher and then press through a wire sieve using the back of a wooden spoon to remove all the skins etc. Do this over a heavy based pan to cat the juice ready for the next step.
- Add the sugar to the juice in the pan and also the rosemary sprigs and lemon juice.
- Bring this to the boil for about 20 minutes and skim it regularly to remove frothy scum from the surface.
- Now add the red wine, stir well and continue to boil until the mixture has reduced by half.
- Remove pan from the heat and carefully fish out the rosemary.
- Ladle the resulting blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese into a sterilised jar and pop on the lid.
New to preserving? Then don’t panic, I can take you from zero to hero in no time at all.
Just check out these handy articles to get you heading in the right direction fast;
How to make great jam and marmalade
How to make chutney and relish
How to sterilise jars and bottles
Pro Tips
Use wide mouthed jars to make this blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese. That way you can tip it straight out of the jar to serve on a platter.
How long will this keep for?
Label and store in a cool dark cupboard. The blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese will keep for up to a year unopened. Once opened store in fridge and use within a couple of weeks.
How to serve blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese
Serve this little beauty with crackers and cheese or sliced with an assortment of European meats and olives and slithers of cheese as part of an antipasto platter or mezze.
It is also good just spread on oatcakes or toast just like normal jam but with more body, a bit of booze and a really grown-up flavour.
I think you’ll like it.
Looking for more blackcurrant recipes? Then check these out;
Blackcurrant jam with chocolate and chilli
How to make Cassis
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Blackcurrant And Rosemary Fruit Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 kg blackcurrants
- 100 ml water
- 300 g sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 rosemary fresh sprigs of rosemary
- 100 ml red wine
Instructions
- Rinse the blackcurrants and pick them over to remove any of those tiny hair like stalks.
- Simmer the blackcurrants in the water over a moderate heat for 30 minutes or until tender and softened.
- Mash the blackcurrants with a potato masher and then press through a wire sieve using the back of a wooden spoon to remove all the skins etc. Do this over a heavy based pan to cat the juice ready for the next step.
- Add the sugar to the juice in the pan and also the rosemary sprigs and lemon juice.
- Bring this to the boil for about 20 minutes and skim it regularly to remove frothy scum from the surface.
- Now add the red wine, stir well and continue to boil until the mixture has reduced by half.
- Remove pan from the heat and carefully fish out the rosemary.
- Ladle the resulting blackcurrant and rosemary fruit cheese into a sterilised jar and pop on the lid.
- Label and store in a cool dark cupboard. Once opened store in fridge and use within a couple of weeks.
Hi Karon I hope you don’t mind I have linked to your Pickled Radish recipe on my Blog today and included your little picture. I meant to ask for permission first but then I went and pressed ‘Publish’. Ooops, sorry.
So I hope (pretty please) that I can have permission to use the picture 🙂
The Blackcurrant and Rosemary Cheese looks lovely. I think the ‘going to the shop to get supplies’ version sounds much more civilised than launching head first into a bush and feeding all the little critters with my blood. So I think I’ll choose that over picking my own this year 🙂
Hi Sue,
Thrilled that you liked the recipe so much you wanted to share it on your site. How could I refuse an old pal, of course you can use it and the photo too.
K x
This sounds delicious! I picked my own black currants and am going to try making this fruit cheese. I was thinking of making it to add to some Christmas gifts. I was wondering how long it will keep before being opened? should I freeze my berries and make it closer to the holidays or can I make it now and then Put the jars in a water bath to seal them properly for longer storage? Thanks,
Melissa
Hi Melissa
This will keep for up to a year, so go tight ahead and start making it now for Christmas gifting.
Kx