Blackcurrant Jam and Blackcurrant Sorbet
At Kastbergs, we use only the best blackcurrants we can get our hands on when we make, among other things, our own specially developed blackcurrant jam and our delicious, creamy blackcurrant sorbet Blackcurrants are a delicacy that gives ice cream and desserts a strong, full-bodied flavour. The blackcurrant is a small berry with a tart, distinctive taste, owing to its high levels of tannins. In this blog, we tell you more about blackcurrant jam and how it is used in ice cream and desserts, as well as about our powerful Kastbergs Blackcurrant Sorbet. The blackcurrant is a shrub that grows in temperate parts of Europe, including Denmark. We place great value on close collaboration with the grower when we choose our suppliers, who ideally should produce the most delicious, big, juicy berries on the market. We use these berries in our superb Blackcurrant Sorbet and in our blackcurrant jam, which goes into our chocolate blackcurrant ice cream. Blackcurrants have a strong, sour-sweet taste owing to their high levels of tannins. The berries have a strong, earthy note, yet possess a sweetness that makes them perfect for desserts. Besides desserts, blackcurrants are often used in jams, and Kastbergs is no exception.
Blackcurrant Jam
Ice cream maker Joachim Kastberg has developed a perfect recipe for blackcurrant jam that contains more than 50% berries, and therefore an intense blackcurrant flavour. We used to have others make the jam for us, but now we make it ourselves at our premises in Herning. This means we have 100% control over how it is made, and can develop it and take it in a direction that suits our needs perfectly. This applies to flavour, consistency and frozen consistency alike. The finished blackcurrant jam is perfect for use in our ice cream and gives it a unique flavour. It is made from different blackcurrants than our sorbet.
We add the blackcurrant jam to some of our ice cream products, where it is added by hand and gently distributed through the ice cream. The combination of the distinctive blackcurrant flavour and its acidity gives our ice cream a perfect balance. This is evident, among other places, in our Kastbergs Cheesecake Ice Cream, where the tart blackcurrant flavour gives a delicate balance to the somewhat heavy cream cheese. The cheese, incidentally, comes from our milk supplier Them Andelsmejeri.
All in all, blackcurrant is popular in the dessert kitchen, where it is used in many prepared forms: as sauce, mousse, coulis, as whole berries and, not least, as sorbet.
Desserts with Blackcurrant Sorbet
Our Kastbergs Blackcurrant Sorbet is popular with many chefs, because besides a delicious creamy consistency, it also has an intense flavour. It pairs very well with chocolate and citrus, where it both provides contrast and is opened up by the citrus. Several talented chefs have created exciting desserts featuring Kastbergs blackcurrant sorbet as an element. Examples include the dessert from the Michelin-starred German Restaurant Coast with chocolate mousse and blackcurrant sorbet, or Andreas Brok-Hartvig's reinterpreted version of the South Jutland classic rye bread layer cake with blackcurrant sorbet. There is also the dessert from Glücksburg Strandhotel with Dolce de Leche and Blackcurrant Sorbet, or Knudhule Strandhotel's Baked Alaska with Blackcurrant Sorbet.
Replace blackcurrant rum with blackcurrant sorbet
Fried camembert is a classic French dessert that had its heyday in the 1980s but is still served in both Denmark and, to a large extent, France. The deep-fried breaded camembert is served with blackcurrant jam or even blackcurrant rum, where the fruity blackcurrant plays well against the strong Camembert. Our skilled chef Andreas Brok Hartvig has reinterpreted this French classic and serves it with Kastbergs Blackcurrant Sorbet. Using sorbet adds an extra dimension to the dessert, as you now also get both a warm and a cold element.
We hope you will explore our desserts and be inspired to work with our many different ice creams and sorbets, for example our blackcurrant sorbet, Cheesecake Ice Cream or Chocolate Blackcurrant ice cream, the latter two containing the blackcurrant jam. Enjoy!