Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Black Currants

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Del Stubbs <northernlights2n@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Black Currants
  • Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 08:14:37 -0700 (PDT)

Years back a generous nafexer got me started with currant plants. I had to
destroy all
the Ben series, (WPBR showed up), but the Titanias (Swedish if I remember)
have never
shown a hint of WPBR, have good flavor and bear prolifically. I have used 40
of them as
one of the inter-plantings between young apple trees in our orchard, a
great use of the
space between trees. In the rows that I have managed to mulch with old hay
the currants
are markedly more vigorous, and when heavily laden branches lay down they lay
on hay, not
dirt.
When my wife and I went to New Zealand years ago her two favorite foods were
lamb dishes
and currant drink. I think I have finally come close to duplicating the
currant drink, it
is now our favorite summer beverage.

Picking: I wait till I see currants falling off the plant - I want them as
ripe as
possible. I put a large bowl under the plant and start stripping off fruit -
many are
falling as I pick so it is important to have something under the fruit. We
have tried
putting a cloth under the entire plant and shaking but only a quarter of the
fruit came
off and many bunches were still attached to the stems ( is this called a
drupe?) and
every bug in the bush got mixed in as well. Does anyone know how they are
harvested
commercially?

Cooking: I fill a big bowl with currants and flood with water - bugs,
leaves, dried
currants all float for easy removal. Drain it off. Put currants on the stove
in a big
stainless pot, add water about half the way up the berries, and just heat the
water till
I can hear it starting to boil - and steam is starting to come out. When
cooled down
enough I run it all through the Victoria Food Strainer (finest mesh). Very
little comes
out as waste skins and seeds. Put the sauce back on the stove, add 1 cup
sugar to every 2
cups of sauce and heat till sugar is dissolved. Add lemon juice, this is a
matter of
taste but I find it an important ingredient. We use about 1/8 cup to a quart
of sauce.

Preserving: We freeze the sauce in half pint containers. We buy clear 'deli
containers'
from a local supplier for pennies each, quite re-useable and good for
freezing - ask your
local grocery deli who they buy from, they come in packs of a hundred.

Enjoying: Mix sauce with 3 to 4 parts water, makes a most delicious fruit
juice. For an
extra treat use part carbonated water. If you have only eaten fresh black
currants you're
in for a real surprise - the taste changes dramatically when they are cooked
and eaten
this way.

Del Stubbs, MN Z3a






____________________________________________________________________________________Ready
for the edge of your seat?
Check out tonight's top picks on Yahoo! TV.
http://tv.yahoo.com/




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page