So far, Rovada and Pink Champagne are my favorites…but I’ll have more to taste next year.
Black currants make fine jelly/jam though.
I can eat the blacks fresh, but there are other fruits I’d rather pick if I have choices.
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Currant season is about to start here so I thought I’d revive this thread with some musings on my experiences. I’ve got a bit of a love/hate relationship with currants in general.
In the early years I discovered how easy it is to propagate currants so I spread them all over my yard. In a couple years I had way more than I wanted, close to 50 pounds of currants/season, mostly black currants which are almost annoyingly productive around here. While I like a bit of black currant jam, and I do enjoy making my own creme de cassis, I really only need about 5-6 pounds/year. If I could get my cherry trees and blueberry bushes to put out like my black currants I’d be happy indeed. I’m growing Ben Nevis for blacks. I had a Consort as well but it makes smallish berries and takes ages to fill up a bowl. Removed it. Ben Nevis makes much larger berries. Taste-wise they’re about equal in my mind.
Red currants were some of the first bushes I added to my yard, though I discovered later on that I don’t really like them that much. They’re bland and way too seedy to enjoy raw. I’m growing Red Lake, though I sometimes question if they really are Red Lake. Based on reviews I read most people seem to like them, and nobody really mentions the seeds. Mine are basically all seed with a speck of juice. I’ve made jelly a few times with them which turns out just ok, nothing spectacular. Jam would be impossible with the seeds, which are not edible at all. Red currants have nothing on black currants. Black currants make great jam, have a fabulous smell and flavour, and I don’t really notice the seeds. I will say that red currants are amazingly beautiful to look at, like strings of jewels. Maybe that’s the appeal for many. Picking red currants is a chore. I’ve been tempted to just leave them on the bush a few times though I haven’t because I hate waste.
I grow white currants too (White Imperial) and they are slightly better than my reds. A bit larger, a bit tastier, but again the seeds just turn me off.
I have a massive sprawling Jostaberry that started producing like crazy after about year 3. I like them more than black currants for taste, plus they’re large like a gooseberry, but they’re still not amazing. The ones I grow mostly become a (fairly decent) jam.
I’ve been slowly removing and relocating my currants over time to the front yard so people walking by can help themselves if they want. I was ready to move on from currants in general but I decided to take a chance on a gooseberry (Hinnomaki Yellow) just to see if I was missing anything. I liked the idea that they’re larger and don’t take as long to pick. Wow, where has this been all my life? They’re large, sweet and taste almost like an apricot. I ordered another this year as well as a Black Velvet. Can’t wait till they get larger and start producing. And now I know what will be propagating next year to replace all my other red currant bushes as a remove them.
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Like my blueberries, most of my currants and several of my gooseberries are in pots.
I am not planning to get rid of any…even if I don’t find I like them all.
As for taste, several have not fruited. But even then, there’s going to be a big variation in voting for #1 tasting currant I am sure.
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Those 4 are at the top of my list, not exactly in the order you put them. All 4 have depth of flavor lacking in most gooseberries. Not that others are bad, but some combination of crunchy, sour, and sweet only goes so far, especially with some mealiness thrown in the mix. Thinking of Pixwell in particular, which is probably the only gooseberry many have eaten. It’s sort of a standard bearer for mediocre gooseberries in my book. Man is it productive, but best used before ripe.
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I just had a ‘tasting’. Tiben productive at young age and good taste. Black September mildest (and therefore ‘best’ fresh). Ben Sarek, big berries but not a favorite fresh.
Chernaya…highest ‘flavor’ (not sure that’s a good thing). And Titania, least preferred fresh of ones I tasted just as I composed this. (All probably great in jam/jelly!)
And Amish Red is a good gooseberry…today tastes better than Hinnomaki red…but the latter is not quite fully ripe. Pixwells are not yet ripe.
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I have Hinomaki red, Poorman, and Pixwell. I can’t tell the big differences between Hinomaki red and Poorman. They both have large size fruits, red color, and sour taste. Even though I like acidic fruits, but it seems to me the flavor is not sweet acidic balanced. The fruits are more on the sour side. Pixwell may have smaller fruits but it has sweet taste, no trace of sour in the flavor especially when the fruits is ripe in very dark color. It is my favorite gooseberry.
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I’ve grown a couple of red currents. Recently, something seems to kill them. 
My sister has a lot, though. I like the flavor of some more than others, but find they all taste very similar, and the degree of ripeness matters more than the variety.
They are a little sour for eating fresh, but i love the flavor, and use them to make jelly. I use scissors or my fingers to pick whole strings, and use them, strings and all, to make juice.
I always eat a few fresh, and don’t find the seeds that bothersome. There’s a lot more pulp than seed, and the seeds are soft and edible. So i wonder if you are getting some random seedling that has small berries.
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Probably Pink Champaigne had the best fresh from the plant taste so far.
I have several that should fruit in 2024, for more testing.
Rovada is pretty good in a red.
Anyone like the flavor of Chernaya Lisovenko?
Black currant from Honeyberry USA.
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Actually, I find some of the gooseberries have a sour tasting skin, but the berry is not sour.
Some have ‘slip’ skins, some don’t.
Gooseberries, there are some or a very few with non sour skin. with the sour skin varieties i would suggest sucking the flesh out and discarding the skin. There are also some without hair and of course without spikes… and some have a really good flavor… The spikes sure won’t stop the birds but they might stop chickens.
I am not sure I know of one that has all of these aspects combined…
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How did the black velvet gooseberry turn out? Was it better than any currant? Better than Hinnomaki yellow?
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Hey David,
It didn’t produce any fruit last season as I just put it in the ground. Hope to get a few this year and I can let you know.
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I found black velvet to be very vigorous and productive. Taste is good to excellent, but the plant seems to overcrop so a thinning might inprove size/flavor.
Hinnomaki yellow has been on my list and it sells out quickly (I had it in my cart for One Green World and it sold out on me) so I haven’t added it so I canot compare the two.
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I went to Portland Nursery today, and they carry in store many good gooseberries and currant varieties. No tax in Oregon, and the cost of a plant seemed to range from around $15-20 each.
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Anyone tried Ben Chaska or Ben Como? New White Pine Rust resistant Ribes nigrum.
Anyone grow Hill’s Kiev Select Black currant?
My last name is Hills and I thought it would be a cool thing to have.
These are the “supporter” nurseries of UMNR who joint released it with the Scottish people: MNRC Supporters | Minnesota Nursery Research Corporation
I’ve only checked a few, but most are wholesale places and I don’t see many names I recognize. Maybe someone else will have better luck and/or be able to buy without a license in lots of <100 plants or whatever?
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its so low vigor that its a bear to propagate, especially compared to the likes of black velvet.
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Has anyone grown/tried swedish black currant? Good taste? Bad taste? Jam/juice only? Not a lot of info on it … one green world has and looks like Whitman farm does as well on website.
Nm looked around a bit more and already saw someone say it’s sweet, but lower productivity. Unless anyone else has a different experience
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