I needed some cassis for a cookie recipe. I couldn’t justify spending $10 on a bottle of stuff that I only needed 2 tablespoons from, and the recipe said I could substitute black currant juice. After much searching, I found black currant syrup (close enough!) in the Jewish foods section of my local grocery…but the bottle is huge! I can make a few more batches of cookies, but I need ideas on how to use up this stuff! So tell me what this stuff is normally used for, and give your best recipes!
And by the way, it didn’t turn the dough lavendar as promised (damn you, Martha Stewart!) though maybe they’ll magically change when I bake them!
Does it have any preservatives? If not, I would go get a gallon of honey, warm it in a pot of hot water and add the honey to 4 gallons of warm water along with 3 packets of wine yeast in a big glass jug (carboy)
After about 3 weeks I would add a pint or two of the black currant syrup.
Then hide the jug under your basement stairs for about 3 years. Then bottle it and I bet it would be an amazing mead.
I second the mead idea. For use in the kitchen, I usually use black currant or red currant jelly with mustard as a sauce for cocktail franks or meatballs.
Learn all about the joys of trifle? That is, bake a pound cake and whip some cream. Then cut up the cake, soak it in the syrup, and layer it with the cream?
My parents are both from Poland, and growing up, we would always have some kind of fruit syrup (usually black currant, red currant, or sour cherry) around the house. The most common use for it was to put a tablespoon (plus or minus) in a glass and fill it up with tap water or sparkling water for a refreshing drink. We would go through many bottles a year of the stuff in this manner.
I agree with pulykamell. I prefer to use Vintage brand seltzer. Several friends are also of the opinion that black currant syrup mixes well with vodka.
I’ll ditto the “make juice out of it” suggestion. Alternatively, you could use it make kirs if you like them, or you could mix it with vodka and Kahlua (try 1 part cassis, 1 part Kahlua, 4 parts vodka, but feel free to play around with the proportions).