Oo, now I want to try a Swedish Black (because I really like Crandall’s, so if those are even better…!) No need to bother ever trying Strata–extremely similar to Minaj Smyriou, but I’m hoping I can craft a good jam out of them this season since I’m not a fan of eating them fresh.
I like black currant flavor. Crandall has a different flavor. I bet you’ll still like Crandall better.
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did you get some tahsis fruit this year?
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To bump the original topic anyone try any mcginnis varieties yet? Was thinking about adding a couple more last year, i have minaj (my favorite) blackdown (not bad not as good) black september (until i pull it out) if anyone wants to trade later this winter, risager and laxton were a couple i was eyeing
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Probably my favorite right now is Ben Hope, mostly because of its upright growth habit, makes picking much easier, many of the others I have end up with branches laying on the ground because of the fruit load which sucks
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Black currant question- my new consort grew 3 feet and set a tiny number of fruit. One was essentially black and soft, so I tried it. I like tart fruit- I’ve been eating aronia that are ripening now right off the bush. This currant- horrid. Not any flavor I would actually want. Was it not ripe? Black and soft not an adequate indicator? I’m rethinking my fall purchases for more currants!
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they arent the best for fresh eating but i can eat a handful here and there. they are best in a jam or juice. most all other black currants are way better than consort. that said there are people that just dont like the taste of black currants.
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I’ll give it another year to let it fruit for real, not just 5 little berries. I have Crandall and pink champagne ordered for the fall. I want to like them…I like nutrient rich berries!
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So I haven’t tried consort, but people say it’s pretty bad for fresh eating, but great for a cooking berry.
The belarouska I ate off the bush, which is supposed to be one of the “better ones” wasn’t “awful” but it wasn’t something I’d readily eat again…
Now once I added sugar and cooked it on the stove a little and made some syrup. It blew my socks off, probably the best tasting syrup/jelly stuff I’ve ever had. I was like, how did something that tasted like grape wet socks, turn into this !
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mostly im planting ben hope these days, but I should get a few fruit on tahsis this year so Im looking forward to trying those.
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I planted one Consort black currant late last spring. It was on markdown at the end of the season so I just nabbed it. It has grown nicely on the east-facing side of the pole barn where it gets afternoon shade.
After I bought it, I read about it. It seems that most people feel it is one of the worst for fresh eating but great for syrup and jams. I had never eaten a fresh currant before. Yesterday, while watering it and the honeyberries planted near the Consort, I noticed the berries seemed ripe and several had fallen to the ground, so I went ahead and picked the few it had made its first year in ground. I am not sure how you know when they are ripe but they were soft and came off the bush easily so I nabbed them. I had not netted the bush, but the birds did not bother them.
I ate a good handful and liked them okay, but would not say they were delicious. I did not hate them at all. I was very hot and thirsty from working out in the heat, so maybe that made them taste better. I gave a couple to my husband who had never eaten a fresh currant either and warned him they were mostly to be used for processing and not really for fresh eating. He didn’t make a face or anything when he ate them, but stated dryly that processing was probably a good idea. Ha ha!
Below is a photo of the little harvest minus what I had already stuffed in my mouth:
A few weeks ago, I added a Tiben and a Ben Conan black currant and a Gloire de Sablon (not sure of spelling) pink currant to my plantings. It will be interesting to compare their flavors when they start producing.
Sandra
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I got a small harvest from my Risager bush this year. I put them in a Gooseberry pie. Fresh they have more “dirty feet” flavor than I’m a fan of. 
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Thanks for the report. The two I ate had a foul stool taste. Nothing berry-like about it. Maybe they weren’t actually ripe. I have no interest in jams, and very limited space, so I think it’s getting demoted to a container or given away.
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I have titania, minaj Smyriou, ben lommand, and one other one and the birds have told me they don’t like any of them 
Literally found them randomly on raspberry leaves while i was moving things today. Like they plucked it, got a taste and said ewww, then set it on a raspberry leaf for me as if telling me not to grow it anymore.
They do however, still love my strawberries and raspberries and have even figured out that yellow raspberries are edible after watching us pick and eat them. Along with yellow and white strawberries…
All black currants taste astringent to me… is that normal?
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Lol, my local birds seemingly told me they hate them 
they’ll gobble up my almost ripe blueberries in front of me and will be just arms reach of me to risk it all for a raspberry but I found so many plucked and squeezed little black currants on a bunch of raspberry leaves today
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Is “dirty feet” a common descriptor? I somehow missed this in the nursery reviews when buying! I also mistakenly thought that dried currants were from currants. Growing fruit is confusing. At least, it’s teaching me not to get attached to things.
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What. Are. They. From? If not currants…
I think @mrsg47 answered this recently. But, naturally I can’t remember exactly what she said. I think, grapes?
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Yeah they are a type of grape, not actually currants.
And yes black currants aren’t the best for fresh eating off a bush… They have a unique taste and also fall into the “acquired taste” bucket… But once you cook them, you’ll literally be shocked how something so 
can go from that to absolutely amazing. You can always make syrup with them. I was completely shocked between off the bush taste and post processing.
@Melon I didn’t find them astringent when ripe, just a zero sugar taste but all flavor and musky.
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People who grow black, red and pink currants- do the red and pinks have distinctly different flavors than the blacks?
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