North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Richard Moyer <ramoyer@gmail.com>]

Good to see this fruit discussed.  Lee Reich has excellent info on it,
in his "Uncommon Fruits" books.
For the cultivar 'Crandall', see this publication, your library can
get it through interlibrary loan:
Hummer, K. E. and S. Pluta (1996). Surprise: It's Crandall. Fruit
Varieties Journal 50(2): 74-75
Stan Pluta is a currant researcher from Poland, who spent a sabbatical
evaluating the black currant collection at the Corvallis NCGR.
'Crandall' is one of the short list he took back to Poland, for future
breeding work.

In my experience, 'Crandall' has been self fertile.

Note that some also list clove currant as Ribes odoratum, reflecting
the flower scent, over its color.  If I remember correctly the species
distinction is artificial, according the 'lumpers' among the
botanists, as the two are very similar to identical, separated by the
Rocky Mountains.

Search NAFEX list archives for lengthy discussions about the fruit
quality.  It's one that improves greatly with cooking, so judging it
raw (even when fully ripe) puts many off.  Some (my family included)
consider it among our best jams.  It has some of the same pigments
(anthocyanins) and flavors as Euro black currants, but is also
distinct in lab analyses of flavor/aroma profiles.

And from the Corvallis NCGR: the farm crew threatened new hires if
they do something boneheaded, the punishment would be eating black
currants raw.  This threat was purported to keep them in line.

Richard Moyer
SW VA  Mulberries ripe