[NAFEX] Currantly Happy
del stubbs
pinewoodel at hotmail.com
Mon Aug 9 09:56:38 EDT 2004
We have just finished our first Black Currant harvest. Wow! I just waited
till I saw a few dropping to the ground to know when to harvest, I was
suprised how sweet they were picked fresh. Mostly I planted Titania, and
some unknowns. So far no diseases, and no predation on ripe fruit, the mice
and deer even seem to avoid them in the winter.
The 2 main reasons we planted them are for jam and juice making - while in
New Zealand my wife acquired quite a taste for the black currant soda they
have there - (its not over sweet like 7 up). The other reason is that our
favorite store-bought jam is either the Canadian Malkans or a Belgian
version of Black currant jam. Now that we have made our own fresh, with much
less sugar, the taste is out of this world. And, all my wife has to do is
add a dollip of jam to a glass of soda water to have that drink again.
It's real nice when a crop turns our even better than one hoped.
I planted them as an interim crop in the apple orchard in the rows where
trees are 15 to 18 feet apart - should get many years of currant harvest
before they are shaded.
The 30 Crandalls we put in this year in the same fashion are already bearing
a few per plant, precocious little devils! They ripen much later and have a
very different taste, eager to see how it compares for juiceing.
Basically we just put the currants in a pan, with 1/4 ratio sugar, cook for
15 minutes and strain through our Vitorio strainer. Thats it! Del
Del Stubbs http://www.pinewoodforge.com ag zone2/3
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