(Ribes nigrum, Ribes rubrum – Family Saxifragaceae)
Currants (red, black, and white)
Names given are for the red currant, (black), and [white]
groseille rouge (cassis)[French], rote Jobannisbeere (schwarze Johannisbeere)[German], ribes rosso (ribes nero)[Italian], grosella colorada (grosella negra)[Spanish], vermelha [Portuguese], ribs (solboer)[Danish], rips (solboer)[Norwegian], röda vinbär (svarta vinbär)[Swedish], punaherukka (mustaherukka){valkoherukka}[Finnish], krasnaya smorodina (chornaya smorodina){belaya smorodina}[Russian], czerwona porzeczka (czarna porzeczka)[Polish], crveni ribiz (crni ribiz)[Serbo-Croat]. pomusoare (agrise negru)[Romanian], cherveno frensko grozde (kasis){byalo frensko grozde}[Bulgarian], dumdemanit aduma [Hebrew], kishmish ahmar (kishmish aswad)[Arabic], akafusasuguri (kurofusasuguri){shirafusasuguri}[Japanese]
Currants are closely related to the gooseberry. Botanically, the trio of currants are just a pair.
The black is Ribes nigrum; the red, Ribes rubru; and the white is just a variety of the red.
The name is also applied to an entirely different dried fruit of the grape known as raisins in some places and currants in others.
Native to Europe, currants vary in colour and flavour. All are small and round, often retaining remnants of the flower from which they grew at the end opposite the stem.
Wild currants, both red and black, grow worldwide in northern temperate regions as far north as Siberia. Cultivated species all have European and Asian ancestry.
For some reason, they were not cultivated by the Romans. Only in the 16th century did currants become popular, when their health-giving properties were realized.
All currants are very rich in vitamin C, but the black even more so. They also have twice as much vitamin A, about one and one-half times as much potassium, calcium, and phosphorus, and nearly five times as much Vitamin C.
Black currants were cultivated a century later than the red and were long considered inferior, despite its larger size which can be more than one-half inch in diameter.
The black currant originated in northern Europe and Asia as far east as the Himalayas, and later crossed with other Asian species to produce the plants now cultivated. Its flavour is not as crisp as the red and was handicapped by its association with medicine.
Black currants have long been used in throat remedies to ward off colds and were also used as a cure for quinsy (an abscess on a tonsil). When vitamins were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, it gave a further boost to its medical reputation as half a dozen currants can have more vitamin C than one large lemon.
Black currants have a tougher skin and, unlike the others which grow on old wood, blackcurrants grow on new wood. Both the bush and the fruit are highly aromatic, and the fruits have a delightful tart flavour.
Since they are high in pectin, black currants are popular as a jam or jelly, but they do need more water than that of other currants during the cooking. They can also be used in a variety of recipes or frozen for later use.
The jostaberry is a hybrid cross of black currants and gooseberries. It looks like, and is treated in the same way, as a large black currant, but has a more pleasing flavour which is different from that of either of its parents. It has largely overtaken the popular similar hybrid, the Worcesterberry.
Red currants were first mentioned in European literature, in a German manuscript from the early 15th century. They were domesticated by the 16th century mainly in the Netherlands and Denmark and soon became popular with still-life painters.
The first species was R. sativum, but the more prolific R. rubrum was later adopted.
There are currently (no pun intended) many hybrids between these and other species, but they all taste basically the same.
Red currants can be eaten raw and are an essential ingredient for a summer dessert or drinks. The most familiar use of red currants is the jelly called “Cumberland sauce”.
Red currants are often used in Scandinavian fruit soups. In other parts of Europe, however, currants of any colour never became popular.
In the Latin languages, the same name is used for both the currant and the gooseberry. Even in Paris in the 18th century, the currant was known as “groseille d’outre mer” (foreign gooseberry).
Later, the popular red currant jelly from the French town of Bar-le-Duc helped to give these currants a certain standing in France. This exquisite preserve has a very taxing process. The individual berries are pierced with a quill to remove the seeds before being boiled with a sugar syrup and some red currant juice. A similar preserve can also be made with the white currants or even tiny strawberries.
White currants are now relatively uncommon, being a variety that spontaneously sprang from several red currant species. The berries are translucent and a silvery-golden colour and less tart than the others. Pink currants are an even more attractive variety that have a beautiful pink flush.
Waxy currants, desert currants (Ribes cereum) grow on a tall, many-branched shrub in drier areas. The berries are of medium size and red to orange in colour. They are translucent, dry, seedy, and somewhat insipid, tasting more like a dry crabapple.
Northern black currants, wild black currants, Hudson Bay currants (Ribes hudsonianum) grow on tall upright shrubs that are covered with small, yellow crystalline glands that exude a distinctive sweetish odour. The leaves are maple-leaf shaped, with three to five broadly pointed lobes. The fruits are tiny and black, with a whitish waxy coat, and grow in clusters. They are somewhat bitter, so are not a popular berry for humans. Bears, on the other hand, love them.
