Now this was an interesting experiment a few days ago.

A friend told me that she had made blackcurrant curd, which was absolutely delicious (she had used a river cottage recipe).

With blackcurrants still in our freezer, I decided to try make some. Certainly delicious and set like a dream.

So, I thought, why not try the same with my frozen redcurrants and white currants? I never quite know what to do with white currants and I already had enough redcurrant jelly.

They didn’t behave quite the same at all – didn’t set well and had much less intensity of flavour. A bit disappointing.

So I decided to use the white currant curd to flavour a batch of ice cream. Now that was good (no photo of the ice cream as it was enthusiastically test tasted, served with desserts and cakes, by visiting friends and neighbours).

However, as I later tasted the last spoonful of curd in the jar, I discovered that its flavour had improved remarkably. I kind of wished I hadn’t been so hasty in relegating it to another purpose.

I certainly won’t make the same mistake with the redcurrant version. Instead it will be served with scones, or as a filling for little tart cases or even in a sponge cake (with cream), just as I plan for the blackcurrant curd.