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Currant Paste
Put any quantity of ripe currants, either red or white, or a part of each mixed, into a hair sieve; press out the juice, and put three parts of it aside for making jelly. Rub the fruit, with the remainder of the juice, through the sieve, and boil it, stirring it constantly, till it is dry. Add half a pound of sugar for each pound of the original weight of fruit, and boil twenty minutes longer. Be careful not to let the paste burn. Put it into jars, and store for use.
A Victorian fruit cheese: the pulp left after jelly-making is cooked down with sugar into a stiff, sliceable paste. Almost everything hinges on cooking the pulp dry before the sugar goes in.
- Which currantThese are fresh Ribes currants — the red and white berries on garden bushes — not the dried Zante currants sold in the baking aisle. Frozen redcurrants work and in fact break down faster, since freezing ruptures the cells.
- The hair sieveA horsehair sieve was the standard tool of the period, and metal could discolour acidic fruit. Any nylon or stainless drum sieve does the job; avoid unlined copper, aluminium and cast iron throughout.
- Splitting the juice'Three parts' here most likely means three-quarters of the free-run juice reserved for jelly, so the paste is made from the pulp plus roughly the remaining quarter.
- "Boil till it is dry"This is the step that matters. Thick fruit purée spits violently, so use a wide heavy pan, low heat, a long-handled wooden spoon and constant stirring. It is dry enough when the spoon drags a clean track across the base that holds for a second or two.
- The sugar weightHalf a pound of sugar per pound of the original fruit — weigh the currants before you sieve them, not the pulp afterwards. That is about 225 g sugar per 450 g fruit, a modest proportion by preserving standards.
- Twenty minutes moreAfter the sugar, the paste will loosen, then thicken again. Twenty minutes at a slow bubble is a fair guide; the finish you want is a mass that pulls away from the sides of the pan in a single sheet.
- BurningOnce the sugar is in, scorching happens in seconds and taints the whole batch. Keep the heat low and scrape the corners of the pan, not just the middle.
- Jars and keepingBecause the sugar level is low for a preserve and no processing is described, treat this as a fresh product: pack into clean jars or a lined tray, cool, and keep it refrigerated, using it within a few weeks. Do not seal it warm and leave it in a cupboard on the strength of the original wording.
- Yield and servingServing -- Turn it out, cut into squares, and serve with cold lamb, game or hard cheese, as with quince paste.
Fruit "cheeses" and pastes — damson, quince, apple, currant — were the thrifty second act of the English preserving day: the strained juice went to clear jelly, and the pulp that would otherwise be thrown out was boiled with sugar into a firm block that could be turned out of a mould and sliced. The technique is old and widespread, related to Portuguese marmelada and Spanish membrillo, and it survives in Britain chiefly as damson cheese. Redcurrants suited it particularly well because they are high in both acid and pectin. Such pastes were less a confection than a way of ensuring that a glut of soft fruit left nothing behind.