I don't like eating any of the red/white ones fresh, they are too sour and not sweet enough. So they are for jam only. I like some of the black ones raw; my favorite is Minaj Smyriou. I think if people tried Minaj or other mild-flavored blacks they would like them; most of the blacks are too strong to eat raw. My kids like 'em and they tend to only like the things your average American would like.

Scott

I grow dozen different varieties of Black Currants and several red and white currants. I used to love red currents more when I was a kid, but this was long ago :( Now red and white currants are too sour for my taste. My daughter loves them ,as well as her friends.
As for black currants, I think dennmni overgeneralizes things. I know plenty of americans who love black currants. When I share them with my friends, they dissapear in no time.
My favorites for fresh eating are Rovada (red) and Blackdown (black). Blackdown has mild sweet taste. I am sure you will love them both. I go t my from "one green world" several years ago. I believe they still carry these two. I also got a lot of good currants from "whitmanfarms.com". I also love Minaj Smyriou too, but Blackdown is even better for me.
Olga

Olga, I think that black currants are something that aren't yet on most people's culinary radar. I hope they will become more accepted as different kinds become available. I planted some last year, and didn't really get anything off of them this year, but hopefully by 2011. When I had some back in the early 1990's, there were Ben Sarek and Ben Lomand, I believe, as well as a Jostaberry, and they all had that very strange medicinal aftertaste, and I eventually got rid of them as useless.

And, as with many foods such as oysters, artichokes, escargot, caviar, olives, or sardines, they are probably an acquired taste. I know that I have grown to love certain foods, such as cilantro and olives, that repulsed me when I first tried them, but sticking with it and giving them a chance.

I am sure you are right about acquired taste for BC. I love black currants, but I was exposed to them from my baby age. I remember in the early childhood, I didn't like olives and bananas but it didn't last long :). I don't remember ever not loving sardines, caviar, anchovies or other food that is considered "weird" by many.
Olga

Olga, I'll have to try Black Down if you think its better than MInaj, I tried half a dozen blacks and found Minaj the best.

I agree with you on Rovada -- its much bigger than all the other reds which makes it much easier to pick. I am replacing all my other reds with Rovada.

Scott

My family and I really like Pink Champagne - I find it sweeter than all of my reds and blacks. Though all of them get stripped clean, Pink Champagne is gone much faster than the rest.
Grow

Olga, I've never tried your favorite tasting varieties but when I asked Lucille (Whitman Farms) about best tasting varieties many years ago she steered me to Strata. She may not have propigated Black Down at the time, however.

Strata does produce delicious and large fruit when plants are young. Now my stand has stopped producing well after almost 20 years (productivity began declining quite a while ago) although plants are vigorous and about 8' tall. I wonder if I should cut them to the ground or tear them out and start over. I've regularly cut out older wood since about the third year.

How is the productivity of Black Down and Minaj Smriyou?

Minaj is very productive, maybe not in the very top category but its not stingy at all.

I ordered some Black Down from Lucile and she mentioned there is a new one she is testing from the Scottish breeding program that she is calling "DH" which she thinks may be the best tasting and I am going to try a couple of them along with the Black Down.

Scott

I believe the easiest strategy for black currants to have them productive over long period of time, is to cut all canes that fruited in the fall after the harvest. Some people even cut the whole branch with berries and harvest berries sitting in a chair :). I never did it myself, but I do cut the old canes at the end of each season.
Olga

So you only leave new wood every season? Never heard of that but I haven't been able to keep my stands nearly as productive as they used to be by removing the majority of old wood and leaving lots of virgin wood. This winter I'll remove all the old wood and see if it helps. Next summer I'll remove all fruiting canes immediately after harvest.

Thanks, I'll see how that works.

Harvestman, just want to mention that this strategy only works for black currant. You can't do it with red or white currants.
Olga

Yes - just to reiterate what Olga says. Black currants are a different species from red, white and pink. They taste totally different and need different pruning. I do like black currants raw but they need to be fully ripe and might not appeal to a really sweet tooth. They are absolutely delicious cooked. We just had a summer pudding, adapted for autumn, made with Bramleys and black currants with a dash of cinnamon. It was gorgeous. Similar recipe linked but don't be put off by the detail - it's much less fiddly than it reads and is great with any combo of berries.

Here is a link that might be useful: Summer Pudding

Black currants I love. I don't bother with the others- to me they are a pale and bland alternative. I thank you for this info as I've never encountered it in the literature I've been able to find on the subject.

Oh, harvestman - you need to try a fresh redcurrant short bread before giving up on them entirely:) Make a round of butter shortbread. Mix up a thin water icing. Spread it over the shortbread just before serving and sprinkle fresh raw redcurrants over the icing. It's a fabulous blend of sweet and tart with a lovely buttery crumbly base. Plus redcurrants have to be one of the prettiest berries there is.

flora, they are beautiful and if I lived in the UK I'd certainly grow them, but I grow so many different kinds of fruit here I have to stop somewhere. I'm managing some red currants (for clients) however, so I may give your recipe a try but the blacks work awfully well in the same context, although you have to be more conservative in how many you use.

I'm looking to get comments on fruit productivity (and possibly cultural suggestions) from others who have grown the Minaj Smyriou black currant. I'm contemplating removing mine, as I've never had more than a very small handful of fruit, although it is about 7-8 years old, and the bush is vegetatively doing fine. I originally got it from Raintree, which would make me presume its pedigree is genuine. A red currant right next to the Minaj produces quite well. I'm on the Front Range of Colorado, Zone 4/5. Although our winter is relatively mild, spring is late, cool, and rainy.

I've seen a few positive comments in the history of the forum about the Minaj Smyrious, but I'd like to hear more.

Thanks, Mike

Hands down, the native golden currant (Ribes aureum) is the best tasting currant that I've tried. I'm not really a fan of black currants for fresh eating, and red and pink ones are good, but still a bit puckery right off the bush.

I've been harvesting these native gems the last few days, and they are wonderful. They can be much larger, approaching the size of your average gooseberry, come in black, red, orange, and gold when ripe (often on the same bush), and are produced in abundance on very large (to over 10 feet tall in some cases) drought tolerant, fast-growing shrubs. Hard to beat...

The catch? Ribes aureum has only one recognized cultivar, which is just a fruiting ornamental variety, so you don't know exactly what you're getting in a particular plant. This currant is not very abundant in the wild, is not grown commercially for fruit, and is used almost exclusively for landscaping. I imagine that very few people grow it in garden situations, and fewer still take advantage of the berries. Boy, are people missing out!

Mike, I have several Minaj bushes and they are nicely productive for me. I have grown half a dozen different black currants and they produced as much as any of them. The best red currants produce about 2-3 times the berries of any black currant in my yard so maybe that is what you are noticing. They have the same number of clusters but the reds have many more berries on a cluster.

Scott

I have almost given up with them because I have to deal with fruit flies...anybody out there has the same issue? This year I have covered them up after flowering and now I'm hooked...they're so wonderful, thinking I'll rip out the gooseberries and red currants because they have the same issue, replace by black. I took some to our fruit show and everybody was surprised how big they're and wanted to know the name, unfortunately it's been long time ago when I got these and have no idea.

Harvestman, did you prune yours...how did you make out?

Can you I.D. this plant?
{{gwi:96764}}

This season I pruned out all fruiting canes after harvest but it was too late to do so last season. This years crop was terrible but let's see about next season with this method. Only pests for black currants here are borers and birds.

This is my third season with black currants 'Ben Serak', white: 'Blanca', Pink: "pink champagne" and red 'Jonkeer Von Tets". I have grown 'RedLake' currants in the past. My favorites are black currants. Its a very common European taste. I made ten pints of Black currant gelato this summer that will keep the taste of summer at our dinner table all winter long! The other less flavorful currants make great jams. The history of Bar-le-Duc sauce. Centuries ago in France, in the province of Lorraine, a gentleman who raised geese and white currants, went through a painstaking process to remove every currant seed (we know there are plenty) from his white currants using a quill from one of his geese. He then made a deluxe jam from the seeded white currants and it became the hit of royalty. Fun currant anecdote. However, for those of you out there with geese and white currant bushes, it might be something to think about. A tiny jar still sells for $40.00.

Peachymomo, if you live in Zone 9, the Clove Currant you presently have may be your only good choice for a currant, due to winter chill requirements. Raintree lists a few inter-specific hybrids for Zone 9, and you might try a couple of those. I have tried a couple of other currants which sounded O.K. for our climate, and they have languished and died without blossoming or fruiting.

The only variety of Clove Currant I know of which was bred for culinary use is 'Crandall'. I have Crandall growing on the north side of the house in our hot-summer climate. My currants this year were very sweet.

Might not be possible to grow them on the north side of the house at higher latitudes. I'm sure it is ganglier in part shade than in the sun, but it's one of the few fruiting plants which will do well in part shade. Clove Currant (Ribes odoratum) is quite similar to Ribes aureum, I believe.

Konrad___far_north this is Ribes Odoratum 'Crandall' in your photo - the best tasting currant by far, in my opinion. Berries are black, but the taste is very different from Black Currants (Ribes Nigrum). It is much harder to grow - it is loosely-branched, irregularly-shaped and not as productive. But it is mild, aromatic and sweet.

AW...thank you Lena, just seen this now, in the meantime I've learned that yes, you're right, lovely tasty currant.