Red Currant Jam in a Bread Machine

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make jam in a bread machine? Gather your ingredients. Choose ripe, plump currants — even when ripe, the berries stay a little tart, and underripe ones just won't do. Keep your machine's size in mind: the berries shouldn't fill it past the halfway mark. For my model, 500 grams was just right.

2. Step 2:

   

   Rinse the currants well in a colander under running water, then let them drain for a while. There's no need to dry them, since they'll heat up in the machine anyway. Next, strip the berries off their stems. You can do it by hand, but here's a handy trick: pull the berries off with the tines of a fork — one swipe clears a whole sprig. Pick out any stray bits of debris too.

3. Step 3:

   

   Put the currants in a large bowl and purée them with an immersion blender. A food chopper or meat grinder works too. Whether to remove the seeds is up to you — I left them in and don't mind them in the jam. If they bother you, press the purée through a sieve. Weigh the finished purée.

4. Step 4:

   

   Measure out the sugar, using a ratio of about 3 parts berries to 2 parts sugar by weight.

5. Step 5:

   

   Pour the berry purée into the bread machine pan and add the sugar.

6. Step 6:

   

   Stir the sugar into the berries well. Let the mixture stand for two hours.

7. Step 7:

   

   Set the pan in the bread machine, choose the jam setting, and start it up. As it runs, the mixture heats and stirs itself from time to time.

8. Step 8:

   

   When the cycle finishes — 55 minutes on my machine — the jam is ready. It's fairly runny while hot, but it thickens to a jelly-like set as it cools, since currants are full of pectin, a natural gelling agent.

9. Step 9:

   

   You can ladle the jam into clean, dry jars while it's hot, or spoon it in once it's cooled. Store it in a cool place. Thanks to all the acid and sugar, it keeps without spoiling.