North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Brungardt, Sam" <Sam.Brungardt@state.mn.us>]

Here in St. Paul, I only have one bush of Crandall and it has not
spread.  Perhaps because it is growing in some fairly heavy, but very
fertile, soil.

Last year I planted a Crandall in my mother's yard in Hays, Kan., and
I'm looking forward to how it grows, spreads, and tastes when grown down
there.

I have found that key to keeping a Crandall bush renewed and not
becoming a tangled mass (and the fruit from being on the ground) is each
spring pruning out the shoots that bore fruit the previous summer, or at
least those that have slumped to the ground and any shoots older than 2
years.

One other thing: in my experience, the taste of Crandall is definitely
not like either the European blackcurrant (e.g., Ben Nevis) or the red
currant (e.g., Redlake), although it is more like the blackcurrant than
the red currant (but lacks the blackcurrant's distinctive "cat pee"
flavor components). Although it is supposedly a selection of a Kansas
buffalo or clove currant (R. aureum), as Crandall grows for me here in
Minnesota, it lacks the wonderful sweetness that the wild buffalo
currants have where I grew up in western Kansas and which my mother used
for jelly, pies, and Kuchen.  Crandall may require a warmer average
temperature than it gets here in St. Paul, Minn., to develop such
sweetness. Another possibility that the man who selected Crandall may
have favored productivity over outstanding flavor. -- Sam Brungardt, St.
Paul, Minn. (USDA hardiness zone 4b) 

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Olenio
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 8:47 AM
To: 'North American Fruit Explorers'
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Kiwi



It was written;

>You'll learn that the Crandall Black Currant spreads about as much as 
>>some
bramble
===

Hello,

Crandall currant also has the habit of weeping over.  It is so loaded
with fruit it hits the ground from the fruit weight and never gets up,
creating a weeding/picking problem.

I tried to cage (over sized tomato cages) them, but they just broke
branches leaning over the side of the cage.

Crandall is a super producer of fruit.  Mine were in full sun.

Later,
Tom


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