Black Currants

The Black Currant is a woody bush or shrub, from 3 to 5 feet in height (900 cm to 1.5 metres), that thrives in damp woods.

The berries are up to 1/2 inch (1 cm wide), with a tough skin. They grow on new wood on the bush.

The leaves have the same scent as the berries. Goats like eating the leaves, and bears like eating the berries. (Presumably bears would also like eating the goats, if the goats get too preoccupied with the leaves.)

Black Currants have a good deal of pucker power when unsweetened, so they are usually used cooked, with sugar. They are high in pectin, making them good for preserves.

Some Black Currant fans have complained that some of the newer cultivars, such as Canadian-developed Consort, Coronet and Crusader, don't have much flavour (they were bred more with an eye to disease resistance.)

The French liqueur, "Cassis", is made from Black Currants. Wash by swishing in a bowl of water. Drain in a colander, remove stems.100 g Black Currants: 28 calories, 200mg Vitamin C.

Black Currants contain three times as much vitamin C as oranges, and good amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin E, potassium, copper and soluble fibre.

1 pound = 450 g = 2 to 2 1/2 cups

4 oz = 115 g = 3/4 cup

Store unwashed in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze for up to 1 year.

Native to Europe.

Black Currant bushes can act as a host for a blister rust that affects white pine trees. Their cultivation was consequently banned federally in the United States in 1906. Though the federal ban was withdrawn in 1966, many American states still ban it where white pine timber is still important economically. Connecticut withdrew its ban in 1983; New York State in 2003 (before the banning started in 1906, New York State had been the top Black Currant producer in America.)

As of 2005, Black Currant bushes are still banned in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

No ban was ever placed on cultivating Black Currant bushes north of the border in Canada.

Also called:

Cassis

Black Currants

Açaí Berries, Akala Berries, Aronia Berries, Baba Berries, Barberries, Bilberries, Black Gooseberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Buffalo Currants, Bumbleberries, Cape Gooseberries, Cloudberries, Cranberries, Currants, Elderberries, Garden Huckleberries, Gooseberries, Haw Flakes, Hawthorne Berries, Huckleberry, Hudson Bay Currants, Jostaberries, Lingonberries, Mulberries, Otaheite Gooseberry, Raspberries, Red Currants, Saskatoon Berries, Sea Buckthorn, Serendipity Berries, Strawberries, Sunberries, Tayberries, Thimbleberries, Ugni, Waimate Berries, White Currants, Wineberries, Wonderberries, Worcesterberries, Worcesterberries

Cherries, Grapes

Bananas, Candied Fruit, Dried Fruit, Fruit, Hard Fruit, Olives