mine are starting to ripen now and i still have 3 gal. frozen from last summer.
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I assume you mean the recipe. …it is in the pdf link I posted. You might like a blog called “bakes by Brown Sugar”. She has several fruit curd recipes in more familiar measurements. But most liquid measuring cups have both liters and quarts and sometimes I use a scale that can measure in grams or ounces. I’m happy to translate the other recipe if you like. The blog has several recipes for curds and some tart cherry recipes as well. And her black currant ice cream appears to be the basic recipe I use. I do usually increase the puree. but otherwise the same.
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Will black currants start from seed? I ask this because I found what appears to be currant starts on the north side of a wind break, which has several Consort bushes on the south side. My assumption is that birds deposited seeds from the Consorts, but I don’t know this for a fact.
Yes
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dont pick all the fruit off a bush and you will have hundreds of little seedlings next spring. i bury them with new mulch.
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Yes, I’ve found a few that I also assume are planted by birds.
This winter I had a surprisingly high number of black currants die. At one site, all 3 black currants died (a transplanted seedling, a Ben Moore and a Ben Sarek), all planted in 2022. Though I think one of them may have died a bit earlier. Either way, it seems this site isn’t good for black currants. They were planted 6’ away from jujube, plum, and persimmon trees (12’ between trees, with a currant, honeyberry or gooseberry between each pair of trees). I’ve replaced them now with Seaberries. It’s my first time planting them, but I hear they want a lot of sun, which this site has.
At another site, the black currants made it, but most of them have significant dieback.
The Blackcomb on the left was fine, but the Tahsis on the right only has ~1 branch with leaves.
Here’s another one which had some dieback at that same site. I think it is a Minaj.
I haven’t looked too closely- maybe there were borers or something like that.
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I have never noticed seedlings around my currants. As to die back Currants will have borers and they require rather severe pruning every two to three years. Some commercial growers mow whole rows every third year. When I have lots of currants I know the next year will not do well and I cut down limbs take them to the porch, sit in a rocking chair and pick currants and/or gooseberries. The next year I have good growth and fruiting. The next year a bumper crop. Repeat…
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ive never had any dieback on currants or gooseberries here but i do take out old, less productive stalks every few years so they dont really hang around more than 3 years.
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Thanks everyone. Consort is not my favorite so it’s only natural that it’s propagated so easily. I do have dieback, but I assumed it was from getting beat by harsh westerly wind in the winter. Otherwise this variety takes minimal effort on my part and is pest free, which the smell may have something to do with.
I wish I could start Perfection red currants as easily. The effort required to maintain is the opposite of Consort.
my Ribes have gone through -40 with 0 dieback. i got rid of perfection as johnkeer von teets was better tasting. perfection rooted everywhere it touched the ground, which was often. johnkeers is more upright. any Ribes i take cuttings of, root easily, just stuck in ground where i want. near 100% if stuck in fall and mulched. i started another 6 of white primus and imperial from cuttings i took last year. my jeanne gooseberry is the same. i throw out a doz. plants every summer where the branches of any of them touch the ground . even with mulch they still manage to root. crandal is the exception but it sends out suckers so i still get lots of extra plants.
i had 2 consort. i removed them and replaced with tiben which is better tasting, bigger berries and more productive. i also have 2 of the bigger fruited selechenskaya 2 but the flavor is still not as good as tiben, i find.
My understanding is the consort is a cooking black currant and not a fresh eating one. I just planted one this year and it seems to be growing like crazy 
.
Is it still bleh even cooking or are you all talking about out of hand ?
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i’ve yet to try any black currant that’s great fresh eating. i can eat a few handfuls of my selen and tiben out of hand but not many. consort was near impossible but they all make great jam and juice. consorts were so small they were a pain to pick. why i got rid of them. there are newer cultivars that are supposedly good out of hand. most are from eastern Europe and Russia which are way ahead in black currant breeding programs. if you ever want to try tiben or selen. let me know. they are super easy to root from cuttings. i have 15 of them around the property from cuttings i shoved in the ground from my 1st. plants which i also started from cuttings.
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My belarouska has probably 12-18 berries on it this year. So I’m excited to try them, they are still super green 
And depending on what I do with my 3 honeyberry bushes next year I might take you up on that 
birds didn’t let me give them a fair evaluation since they fruited first time this year
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Sunlight is so strong here I put black currants where they get shade at noon or in the afternoon when the heat cranks up all summer.
They all get borers, for when I cut back old canes each has a hollow stem. Those that cannot grow fast and woody stems fall over & cannot produce fruit.
Every year I find a few seedlings & one year re-planted one. Its fruit was small & really musky, so it got pulled. If I had lots of room I might try planting all seedlings in case something remarkable comes up, but since I am happy with the four already in place, there is little incentive to try a seedling again.
I know I wrote this before, perhaps in this thread, but making another bush from cuttings is simple & fool proof. Putting the 6-8" cutting in ground with just the tip above ground along with mycorrhizal inoculant makes bushes in one season.
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have you gotten fruit fro tahsis yet? if so what do you think of it?
bela are definitely better fresh eating than my other varieties, not exceptional, but better.
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ok. im going to hijack this thread for a minute. does anyone grow a b. currant cultivar yet that you consider good eating fresh? ive heard of better tasting ones recently but no one saying they are great out of hand. is there such a cultivar yet? my tiben are good for a couple handfuls before they become too much but i like sour/ tart. selenchenskaya 2 is slightly better but doesnt have the typical b. currant taste. Galina pointed that out as well. i just mix them in with tiben when processing…
I think I read that risinger is supposed to be another one that’s better out of hand. I just planted it this year so I can’t report back yet.
belaruskaja is pretty good for a BC, crandall clove currant is actually really good, but you gotta let them hang on the bush for a long time after they turn color
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