I’m starting to dig holes again after a long injury and I’m moving my few gooseberries from turf that won’t allow them to get big to a new spot.
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Me and my lady we both agree that the best tasting gooseberry is Black Negus. It is a hybrid bred by Michurin by crossing Anibut gooseberry with Ribes x succirubrum. It is a thorny vigorous bush fully resistant to powdery mildew. Fruits are not large but have a fantastic flavor reminding of blueberry, full of anthocyans and very sweet. Jams are equally fantastic, especially when combined with pawpaw.
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Sounds like you have a great one…maybe it’ll arrive in USA someday.
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I’ve been adding a few new gooseberries each year. This is Langley Gage next to Tixia. Neither variety is fully ripe yet, but I wanted to show how big Langley Gage is. Really excellent flavor too.
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How do you keep chipmunks from eating your berries? They ate all of mine.
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I’ve lost a lot of fruit to birds and chipmunks this year. I net some of my plants. I trap a lot of rodents. But I’m mostly just trying to outproduce what the wildlife can eat.
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Do you know if that is “black velvet” in the US or is it a completely different cultivar?
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I’m pretty sure that Black Velvet is different. Black Negus is a Russian variety, but I don’t think Black Velvet is from there.
The second half of this page has some more info about Black Negus: https://vsaduidoma.com/en/2021/04/22/besshipnyj-sort-kryzhovnika-grushenka-i-chernyj-negus-otzyvy-i-uhod/
You might also find more by searching for the Russian name: Чёрный негус - Google Search
Maybe @Harbin can give some more info? I’m interested as well.
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What more info would you like apart from what was written above? We’re just about harvesting it now. It makes a divine jam alone, or combined with pawpaw.
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Thanks for the links. Yep, it appears they are different. Maybe one day Black Negrus will make it over here. It seems that Europe has many more varieties than you find in the US.
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I guess there’s not much you could add. Ideally, you’d be able to tell me an alternate name under which it can be found in the US. 
But from what I can tell, it’s just not commercially available here. 
Does anyone else happen to know of a US source for this variety?
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Have to give Black Velvet some high marks. Hino Red used to be my favorite till I tried BV.
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Doesn’t look like it, unfortunately. I suppose we will never get it unless a nursery imports it or someone finds a shipper that is willing to go though the phyto cert process.
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Update: Langley Gage is hands down the best out of the six or seven varieties of gooseberry I grow. And BIG!
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Cool. Where did you get the Langley Gage?
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It is interesting to see how different regions will grow different tasting fruit. In Utah the predominant growing conditions of high elevation, high UV, alkaline clay soil, low humidity and large temperature swings between day and night. I grow Hinomaki Red/ Yellow, Poorman, Invicta, Jahns Prairie and Black Velvet. I will list the gooseberries by best tasting first in descending order.
By far the best tasting gooseberry for my area is Hinomaki Red. It has a strong raspberry flavor mixed with gooseberry and the right amount of acid to balance the sweet. I am going to grow more of these! Vigor and production for this one are not that great but it earns a spot due to taste.
Next best tasting would be black Velvet. It has a deeper more complex flavor than most and is the most vigorous growing gooseberry plant I have. Productivity is ok.
Hino Yellow has a good sweet taste that has kind of a hint of apricot. Its vigor and production however are the worst I have. You literally get a small handful of fruit/season from one plant, not really worth it.
Invicta This one is good with a more concentrated sweet and sour flavor compared to others but nothing really unique about it’s flavor. It is a really good producer and plant vigor is also good. Overall it is a keeper.
Jahns Prairie This one really hasn’t done much for me and it might be my fault because I have it in a bad spot. It is comparable to Invicta for flavor but I really can’t say mush for it productivity and vigor
Poorman Has absolutely no sourness to it all when it is fully ripe. It tastes sweet with mild gooseberry flavor. The texture can be a little mushy compared to the others but this doesn’t bother me. Production is high and vigor is also good. Just because I have it at the bottom of the list doesn’t mean I don’t like this one. I literally have been eating several handfuls of these every day for the past couple of weeks. I also have more Poorman plants then any other gooseberry.
When I first started planting gooseberries I thought I didn’t like overly sour gooseberries so I planted Poorman but now realize I was probably eating them too soon. I like to eat them after they have lost their crispness and sweeten up a little. At this point a little sourness actually makes them taste better in my opinion.
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In my condition of humidity, acid sandy soil and many cloudy days Poorman vigor is very low, Black Velvet is ok but Oregon Champion is very high. I’ll adjust Poorman ph with some lime and see if it makes a difference.
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Just spoke with Lucile at Whitman Farms and she told me that they are out of Langley Gage and will no longer sell them because of susceptibility to fungus.
Does anyone know where else one may buy one?
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It’s probably the end of the road for that gooseberry cultivar. Whitman Farms carries some obscure varieties, and if they no longer carry it then you probably won’t be able to find it anywhere else. You’ll have to ask @SMC_zone6 to root you a cutting one day.
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