I’d love to try currents. But I fear like my brave little Nanking Cherries; 8B is too hot for them. For year 3 I’m going to dig up the Nankings, put them in big pots and move them to more shade.
Best tasting? Laxton’s Giant, Ben More & Risager. This past season was the first for Laxton’s Giant (big & mild, juicy) & Risager (not as large or mild as LG, plump w/thinnest skin I’ve so far seen). Ben More has been the standby for 8 years or more: productive, consistent, rather musky).
I had Ben Sarek, which in my yard was an aphid magnet. That may have strengthened the Bc flavor while cutting the harvest to 1/3 the others at best.
Westwick takes forever to come fully ripe, weeks after turning nearly black. Its flavor is musky, skin bombproof and maybe 70% of the yield from Ben More in a good year.
Someone already mentioned Black September & had much the same experience as mine: puny bush, fruit & yield.
Minaj Smeriou (as Lucille Whitman spelled it) fell over six inches above the crown. Very slender stems or canes. No fruit after three years.
Which brings me to an observation: some insect lays eggs that bore the length of my canes. Those that can stand while reamed like that produce for me.
Belaruskaya fell over at six inches for that reason & never got a crop.
Another observation: when I wanted to root cuttings, I cut them 6-8 inches long at the end of October, stripped the leaves gently, dug a hole & dumped compost in it, inserted the cutting with fungal inoculant alongside, tamped & watered it, mulched it with softwood shavings to cover the last three buds showing above ground & looked at 'em the next March. They rooted while winter closed in - down to zeroF several times - and grew to twice the size of the mother bushes in one season. I did that with Ben Sarek, before it became obvious it wouldn’t thrive here, and Ben More.
I don’t enjoy black currants fresh, but they make unforgettable jam and cordial. I have to put them where they get afternoon shade or they have a hard time with my hot dry conditions.
2 Likes
Tiben is my fav. but i cant eat alot of them fresh. i have 2 4 yr.old selenchenskaya 2 that grows upright, has large berries and is productive. though its less musky, its flavor isnt the best. almost like watered down. it has very good ratings in Russia and is one of the most commercially grown cultivars there. easy to pick and productive, ill keep them for processing. kids would probably like them for fresh eating. one green world sells it.
1 Like
currant cane borers. i get them here, worse some years than others. no big deal, just prune those stems out. You can see the loss of vigor in the stem even without snipping them.
but you havent tried Minaj. Its sweet and mild, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 as intense w/ High sugar/low acid. Worth a try. Everyone here eats them by the (huge) handful. They’re nowhere near as good for processing, mainly just good eating
1 Like
Interesting that Minaj Smeriou (by whatever transliteration) is good for you. I am glad. The borers seem to be very consistent here, but at the same time I note no evident loss of vigor in those few I grow that build heavy canes. Those that do, are unable to cope at all.
Now I will hope to try Minaj closer to Seattle or Portland, Oregon.
Maybe I ought to ask Lucille how she handles Bc cane borers.
2 Likes
I’m in 8b and currants do great most years. But the zone number doesn’t say anything about summer weather.
1 Like
There is a wide range of flavor in raw black currents and the level of cat piss quality that recedes when the fruit is cooked. The problem is that many of the least pissy ones I’ve tried are either low bearing or prone to mildew- the chief disease problem for black currants in humid regions- at least beyond pine blister rust which is more an issue for white pines nearby than for the currants themselves. I never worried about it and grew some susceptible varieties without ever infecting white pines on my property- the NYS ban was long controversial because black currants are a naturalized shrub in our forest areas anyway.
For fresh eating and productivity I liked a couple of the currant gooseberry crosses- one was Invicta. I got an unnamed Russian variety that is low bearing but has really good fruit from Lee Reich. The reason is it useful is that there is nothing else besides cherries to eat in the orchard when its fruit ripens. My wife gathers all of my currants for culinary use which is the one thing for which black currants have no peers. They are also amazing when used in fruit juice combinations- try putting a cup of them in a blender with a quart of fresh pressed apple juice and straining it. Ambrosia of the gods!
5 Likes
Haven’t heard of that one. But, I got Chernaya Lisovenko this year. Not sure it’s ready to fruit, still little. Supposed to be ‘mild’ and also get some decent fall color.
1 Like
cat piss of the gods? I actually love the aroma and flavor, and never drew the connection until someone very turned off by both pointed it out. I must have mucked about in black currant bushes as a child because to me the smell is both pleasant and evocative of some kind of ephemeral nostalgia thats hard to pin down. All parts of the plant have tgat aroma, but flavor wise, I find the pungent ones like ‘Consort’ and the ‘Ben’ series ones are both very tart and almost smoky. These concentrated flavors are very tasty dilited and sweetened. The fresh eating types, of which there are many in eastern Europe, taste much sweeter and milder. An older English cultivar Ive always wanted to pick up is ‘Blackdown’. Its supposed to be nice and mild. Apparently black currant is the de facto flavor for cough syrup and other such items over there, similar to concord grape here.
3 Likes
Blackdown easily obtained at Whitman Farms. No doubt someone offers it elsewhere across this huge land of ours.
For fresh eating, I really enjoy Crandall. It’s a clove currant and I like it far better than any black currant I’ve eaten fresh. I also enjoy it more than any Jostaberry I’ve had. I just planted 2 more of them.
I also like Pink Champagne and am curious to see what Orus 8 does for me.
4 Likes
Ribena in Europe is like o.j here except it has much more antioxidants and nutrients than o.j. was given to children in England during ww2 when food was rationed, to keep them healthy.
2 Likes
could you spare a cutting or 2? id be interested in trying that one. could send you some tiben and selenchenskaya 2 cuttings to try in trade. both are very easy to grow. tiben is later, selen is my earliest cultivar. same as consort. removing consort as its difficult to pick with such small berries.
1 Like
It’s been a while since I’ve grown Laxton’s Giant. But when I did it was very non-productive. And while large, the fruit wasn’t “Giant” 
I did something similar, except I waited until November (leaves already drop). Then I shoved cuttings halfway into the ground and almost all worked nicely. This is true for both currants (including red/white) and gooseberries.
To me, they aren’t really any better for fresh eating. All black currants seem to make great jam. Black currant, boysenberry and sour cherry are the 3 top fruit for jam by far.
But, as you note, I’ve seen some low bearing and mildew-prone varieties. Goliath and Strata are both bad, even though Strata is supposed to be mildew resistant.
So right now, I really just want productive, healthy, and ideally large fruit for faster picking. I added Tahsis and Blackcomb this past spring and am looking forward to seeing how large the fruit gets. Of my somewhat-established plants, I’m fond of Ben Sarek for fruit size and Ben Lomond for productivity.
I don’t eat many any more, but from my memory, Pink Champagne was my favorite currant from the red/white. Almost good enough to eat fresh.
I last grew Orus 8 10-12 years ago, but I think it was at least OK. But it died and wasn’t good enough that I wanted to re-add it. Jeanne, Hinnomaki Yellow, and Hinnomaki Red have been the tastiest gooseberries.
3 Likes
Those of us that do detect a big difference in the flavor of fresh currants are the only ones that need engage in the conversation about which ones taste the best. We are not imagining the difference we simply have different palates than anyone who believes they all taste the same- crappy raw but nice when cooked and sweetened with lots of sugar.
The ones that I like raw have a sweeter taste as well as being less pissy. This is an extremely nutritious fruit and I love to forage some in late spring when fresh fruit is at a premium here.
I think another topic should be “best black currents for culinary purposes”. I agree that differences in flavor shrink once fruit is cooked and sweetened.
1 Like
Black currant flavors are all quite strong in Europe and at home in the States. I have always grown black currants here and in the US. I have never seen black currants growing wild, unless the seeds in bird droppings created new plants in my gardens. Grew four varieties at home abd only three here. I only cook with them.
Here the currant ,Noire de Bourgogne is very strong and the standard/ classic. They are a crop grown in Burgundy and Normandy. In Eastern Europe and Germany they are incredibly popular and prized,
Black Currant sorbet is served here year-round and especially during Christmas. Cassis and Mirabelle jams are given as gifts.
2 Likes
where did you get Tahsis Bob? ive never heard of it.
1 Like
thats a favorite in my house!
2 Likes
https://berrycrops.net/berries.php
They’re breeding and maybe imported a couple of them? It looks like they only sell wholesale numbers of plants at a time.
2 Likes
They are bred by McGinnis and I got them from Lucille. We discussed them in this thread earlier this spring:
That’s fair, but I don’t like the idea of people chasing after the mythical fresh eating black currant when it simply may not exist (depending on their tastes). But I suppose I should recognize that for some people it may actually be attainable and not discourage them too harshly.
This conversation has reminded me that I haven’t had any black currant jam in a while, so I’m going to open a jar of it to eat with some plain whole milk yogurt. Recently, I’ve been using a Sour Cherry/mulberry mix. The SC are great and the mulberries are mostly filler.
3 Likes