I have Crandall (clove) currant (ribes odoratum) and golden currants (ribes aureum) in z5, both hold up really well. A little yellowing on some leaves here and there but I don’t worry about it – they are hardy plants! Just harvested 5 lb from one clove currant bush this morning – not too bad considering these are all 2nd leaf plants… Had a few random berries on the golden but not much to speak of yet for production on those yet. I like the taste a lot – like mentioned above, have a sweet-tart grape kind of taste…
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nice! mine are just coloring up here.
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@Boochaman - that is a really nice sized bowl of fruit… especially off one plant.
Do you mostly eat them fresh ? or do you process in some way… Jam, Juice ?
When eating them fresh… do you eat skin, seeds and all ? or more like muscadines… spitting out skin and seeds ? Looks like the skin would be quite edible to me.
Thanks
TNHunter
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@TNHunter – thanks! I was pretty pleased as I didn’t really know what to expect as far as yield, especially since they’re still young…
I think if you are good about letting them ripen long enough that they’re pretty tasty out of hand – I eat 'em all, the skin is good and the texture with the softer interior is good. The seeds are so small I don’t think you could spit them out if you tried. But I tend to eat as much of a plant/fruit as possible because there’s different compounds in each element with their own nutritive properties…
The vast majority of these will go into kombucha and kefir (I do both of these ferments) – I typically go through 4 pounds or so of fruit each week between kombucha and kefir. Rough yield on the one bush was a little more than 5 lbs/5 quarts, so I thought that was pretty good.
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thats about as much as mine get and mines 4 yrs old. they arent as big plants/ producers as R. nigrum are. unfortunitly the birds love these over all others so i have to net them when they leave my other currants and berries alone.
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@Boochaman – I am a kefir fan myself… started making it 5-6 years ago and hooked on it for sure. I dont put fruit in my milk ferment… but i always eat my kefir with a fruit/nut mix… (prebiotics with probiotics).
Usually berries… strawberries or blueberries raspberries blackberries and usually a mix of walnuts pecans and toasted sliced almonds.
And pour my kefir in with all that mix, stirr and eat. Love it… about half my carb intake daily comes from that.
TNHunter
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Good stuff for sure! Try a secondary ferment with fruit sometime – more probiotic goodness as it’ll eat the sugar from the fruit and process it to probiotic… Your way sounds tasty too though… Kinda like a greek yogurt replacement…
@steveb4 – I noticed mine became so weighted with fruit they layed over (so I just cut the laying down branches to harvest) – do yours do the same thing or do they stay upright? (I don’t really like them laying over)
ive had the same problem. they stay somewhat upright until the fruit develops. cant prune it out . most of the gooseberries , red and white currants are the worst for this. luckily i have woodchips for them to lay on. next spring. im going to put 12in high circles of 2in. chicken fence around them to keep the branches from laying on the ground. hopefully that takes care of it.
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Yeah, I have mine in elevated beds with woodchips too. I figured it’s no harm in pruning the fruiting branches out after they’ve been allowed to fully ripen as the fruit develops on 1st year wood for those (I think? Maybe 1st and 2nd year wood?). Chicken fence might not be a bad idea – I was thinking of maybe cordoning them up…
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i was considering doing the same as well as my rows are from east to west. gooseberry maybe not. too damned thorny. 
This 83/59 forecast and light breezes and reduced humidity…getting pretty dry already despite above average precipitation again this year.
My currants look great, and the gooseberries have lost some leaves but are ok…having stopped for the summer.
I have a dozen ‘Black September’ currants I got in bare rooted in spring…they especially looked good as I checked them a couple days ago.
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