juice de cassis

not as fancy as the title sounds...plain old black currant juice made with a steamer. my late grandmother bought me this juicer/steamer, i bet most homes in finland will have one, if not in use, at least gathering dust in the basement.

when i was making juice last year i noticed that the hob couldn't manage boiling the tall kettle contraption for hours, that's why i bought a separate hotplate for the task







washed bottles, sugar, atamon (preservative) and black currants (25 kgs)







the berries were a bit dusty, they needed a quick wash first







the base kettle where the boiling water makes steam that...







...that is consentrated in this funnel type part with an opening for...







...plastic hose that takes the steamed juice to another kettle







this part is then filled with berries and placed on top the funnel-type part







oop, i only washed the berries here...







it is very important to clean and disinfect the bottle well before pouring in the juice







i add atamon (sodium benzoate and benzoic acid) into the water where i dip the bottles. i keep this water boiling while...







i bring the steamed juice (with added sugar) to a boil...







these thongs have a good grip on the hot bottles







a funnel make this part a lot neater (this juice is particularly hard to remove from carpet...)







filling the bottles almost to the top







this year i got 16 litres of juice from the 25 kg of berries







i almost went and bought another 10 kg of currants but we will run out of storage. the juice needs to be refridgereted, or at least in a very cool place, and this fridge needs to hold my apple sauce as well