Findings in the Freezer

It is inevitable when you clean out your freezer that you will find food that you had forgotten was there. This is of course in addition to a certain number of UFOs. This is a term I learnt from Eileen at In My Playroom which stands for Unidentifiable Freezer Objects referring of course to those little food packages that have lost their labels and have changed out of all recognition since you put them in. I came across one such item and had stowed it in with the summer fruit. It was only yesterday when I fished out the large amount of red currants I had discovered that the suspicious package was identified as liver and NOT red fruit! Luckily this was before adding it to the bowl!
So it was time to turn the forgotten redcurrants into something useful. Redcuurrat jelly will be tasty with the 3 lambs that will soon be arriving in our neat and tidy freezer. Yesterday I simmered a suitable number in the preserving pan.

Within an hour or so they were in the jelly bag to extract the juice.

This morning the bag had stopped dripping, the jars had been through the first stage of sterilisation in the dishwasher and all was ready to complete the jelly making process. The sugar was added (1 pound per pint). I used sugar with added pectin to allow for any pectin lost in the unknown period of freezing (one year, maybe more?).

It didn't take a long time to dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil. Like all jams and jellies a temperature of 105C needs to be reached to achieve setting point which is where my new thermometer probe comes in useful. A welcome Christmas present from my sister.

This kind of jelly can set very quickly so it's advisable to remove the scum and bottle it as quickly as possible before it begins to set.

I now have a good stock for my store cupboard.

 Followers of Mary Berry will know that she frequently suggests adding red currant jelly to all sorts of dishes so I shall be fully prepared. The question is what shall I concoct next from freezer items. Gooseberry fool or maybe black currant sorbet?