Favorite Gooseberries and Currants

General Fruit Growing
#101

Six years later, do you have any favorites for fresh eating, Ari?

#102

Alexander Jackson Downing was sort of the “father” of landscape design in the US. I believe Olmsted was a scion of his. He also helped popularize gothic architecture in the US, and published several pattern books showing his house and landscape designs.There were ‘Downing’ varieties of lots of fruits, including mulberries. I think Crandall Currant was another one that he promoted. That being the era of Johnny Appleseed, a lot of these
‘varieties’ were seed grown sort of landrace types. If there ever were true varieties in circulation, Im pretty sire theyre lost. A lot of plants of questionable quality could easily be passed off simply by giving them the monicker ‘Downing’. In actual fact, Downing was far more preoccupied with picturesque beauty than fruit quality anyway.

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#103

I actually had some frozen ones today coincidentally.
I think:
Minaj Smyriou, Hills Kiev Select, Belaruskaja are alll really good for fresh eating.
I have a few more other euro varieties rooted and maybe I can try in a year.

The Crandall/Buffalo currant, which I guess is a different species of black currant, is my only true disappointment. Thought it would taste better than regular black currants but definitely is not. Think I read its ‘sweeter’, but i don’t really find that. Maybe much more milder flavor (which is taking the best part of black currants away). Its like regular ‘sweet’ black currants are much more flavorful at the same time they are also sweeter (than Crandall) and more tart at the same time. Its a flavor explosion haha.

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#104

Some are better than others. The true ‘Crandall’ was a clone, supposedly, but seedlings are/were sold as ‘Crandall’ too so its a bit of a dog’s supper. Mine is pretty tasty, reminiscent of grapes more than black currants. They have no cassis muskiness, which some people dislike (Im a fan personally). I find theyre pretty sour unless you let them hang for a couple of weeks, at which point they sweeten up nicely.

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#105

i prefer the fresh taste of euro blacks for sure but Crandal is great as well. i mix the 2 in processing and the jam/ juice is great. my little niece loves the Crandal’s as well.

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#106

I have at least 8 black currants…but not the three you prefer. I’ll have an excuse to get more I guess. :crazy_face:

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#107

I have a bunch of black currants, mostly Im just planting ben hope now though. I like its upright form, it produces fairly heavily and also has nice sized berries that are easy to pick. Bela is nicer for fresh eating if you like something with a little more noticable sweetness, but mostly I just use BC in other things, so fresh eating isnt a primary concern of mine.

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#108

Noiroma is a really good one for fresh eating. I’ll just rate them in a list.
https://www.lubera.com/de/shop/cassissima-noiroma_produkt-1128641.html
These are euro Varieties, I hope you can get similar quality in the US.

This is what I have planted in large amounts.
Black Currant

  • Noiroma (The winner for fresh eating, almost no sour)
  • Jubilejnaja Kopanija (Too young)
  • Bona (good fresh eating still a hint of sour)
  • Cherny J Bumer (not enough expereience yet, but large and med sour)
  • Hedda (marketed as fresh eating but it is more sour and for juice etc ime)
  • Titania (good size but too sour)
  • Supernova (not enough to judge yet)
  • Ometta (Reprtedly very good fresh, not enough to judge yet.)
  • Ben Sarek (large harvest very sour)
  • Ben Lamond (nothing unusual so far)
  • Ben Hope (winner for production, for juice/processing, sour)
  • Daniels September (Does not fruit in September, medium sour)

I can also comment on gooseberries.

Some have non sour skin, that is a win.
Some have very aromatic flavor, some have little to not thorns… Sweetness is also good.
I do not know of any that have everything combined. So far I think my favorite variety is Pax. I have not kept all my labels in order unfortunately… Here is a short list of what I have. Most of these cannot handle full hot summer sun without the fruit burning and rotting. birds are also a challenge compared to black currant where i have no issue with birds.
Gooseberries

  • Pax (basically thornless)
  • Captivator (not familiar enough with it. but almost thornless)
  • Invicta (was this the one with less sour skin?)
  • Lady late (it is signifcantly later ripening, sour skin)
  • Neslukhovsky (tasty, early)

I’ll be able to give better reviews this summer.
red and white I am most looking forward to Dushechka supposedly more sweet?

and white, Umka I had last summer and it is mostly like all white currants (not so interesting), it is also listed on that website.

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#109

So this is quasi off topic but also related and didn’t want to start a new thread

So I have a spot that I want to plant a black currant, but my dog has enjoyed going pee there for the last 7 years…

How much soil remediation do I need to do about all the urea probably there… And also is there a good currant that could handle something like that?

I plan to to keep her from going there once I remediate the area.

Or is a currant/goose completely out for an area like that ?

#110

I’m not sure, i don’t have experience with this specific situation. But from what i know, urea and the nitrogen from dog pee is all very water soluble. So after a decent rain it’s probably gone from the soil. Past what the soil (CEC) can “store or buffer”

#111

I grow many currants. My favorites are a few local cultivars developed here in Scandinavia. I predominantly only grow cultivars which are resistant to mildew and other diseases/pests, and they are also selected to grow very straight upwards, with few branches dangling down in the grass. This makes them my favorites, due to the ease of growing and high yield of the newer cultivars. I grow them mostly for jams. I’ve eaten red currant jam all year for as long as I can remember.

Black currants:

  • ‘Hedda’ - early ripening, ok taste, medium yielding, branches sags a bit, compared with the rest, resistant to mildew
  • ‘Kristin’ - early to normal ripening, very good taste, long strands, high yielding, resistant to mildew
  • ‘Narve Viking’ - late ripening, very good taste, high yielding, resistant to mildew

Plan to also get the very early cultivar ‘Ben Tron’. It’s also said its very good tasting.

Gooseberries:

  • ‘Hinnomäki red’ - resistant to mildew
  • ‘Hinnomäki’ yellow’ - resistant to mildew

Red Currants:

  • ‘Rød Hollandsk’ - Norways #1 grown red currant, very sour, mostly for jams or cordial, very long strands of big berries, very productive, resistant to most diseases

Hybrids/others:

  • ‘Jostaberry’ - well known hybrid between gooseberry and black currant.

  • ‘Worcesterberry’ - A couple of years ago I started growing a Ribes divaricatum, 'Worcesterberry '. It was first believed to be a hybrid of gooseberry and black currant, but now they think it is simply a cultivar of the North American native. Anyhow, I got a cutting from a local guru (S. Barstow) - and it quickly (two years from cutting) bore a few berries last autumn. The taste was really good (!!), almost like sour candy. I’ve read somewhere that it makes fantastic jam, so I propagated 4-5 cuttings last year. and plan to make jam with it. I also ripens pretty late, so a possible season extender. Cannot testify to disease resistance yet, but by taste alone I can recommend it. It supposedly grows very large and unfortunately it is very thorny.

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#112

Anyone tried Ben Chaska or Ben Como? New White Pine Rust resistant Ribes nigrum blackcurrants released.

Anyone know when Hinnomäki’ green gooseberries are going to be available? Are they White Pine Rust resistant?