North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

My clove currants, planted a year and a half ago, produced their first 
crop this year. And I've got to say that they're surprisingly... lousy! 
Hey, I'm not at all a picky eater. Just the reverse, in fact. It didn't 
even occur to me that there'd be a fruit I didn't like, and I kept 
hearing about how tasty these were. Not only do I think they taste 
terrible, so does everyone else I've talked into trying one.

So what's the deal? Does anyone here actually LIKE the taste of these 
things? And if not, what do you do with them? They come ripe one at a 
time, so you can't pick a bunch for cooking or anything (not that I can 
imagine what you'd make with them).

I've got one seedling clove currant (because no one knew for sure if 
they needed cross-pollination). That one ripened a bit before the 
others, and the berries were very tiny. But though the 'Cradall' clove 
currants were much bigger, they tasted just as bad. I didn't bother 
netting them, so the birds got most of the berries (though that didn't 
keep them from the rest of my fruit).

These are growing in a poor location for most things - on the west side 
of my house, on top of a very dry slope. They are shaded until nearly 
noon, then again in the early afternoon, but they get the intense heat 
of the late afternoon sun. I can't complain about how they're growing, 
and they seem to have no bug problems at all,... but they taste terrible.

Heck of a deal, huh?

:-)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief. - 
George Bernard Shaw