Me too…on the cuttings of yellow…
What do you do with the frozen berries, Drew?
Scott
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I use them for jam, I usually add them to another fruit, mulberries, blackberries, tart cherries, or black raspberries. I think they go best with sweeter fruits, like strawberries (never tried this yet, this year white currants with white strawberries!), black raspberries, or mulberries. They add a lot of pectin too. Last week I made muffins, but the seeds are an issue, so I prefer to use them for jam. About a bag like that is all I need. My son though just goes though my jam like a cow in cityman’s orchard! Last time he was over he took 10 jars!
I also want to use the white ones with my white strawberries, and also with my yellow caps, which are more like brown caps! Here are my yellow caps
I’m changing my beds for strawberries, so didn’t have ton’s this year. I still managed to save enough white strawberries for jam.
Most of my white currants are not ripe yet.
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Remind me I raise a few types of clove currants. Can’t tell yellows from reds or blacks right now. They all have different flavors. Crandall is the best tasting fruit of the clove currants.
Looks good! I tried blacks raw for the first time. Not bad, very different. Very complex flavor, not as simple as reds. Like reds, the flavors must be teased out. I look forward to the challenge. I need another couple years to get a decent amount.I should get enough to do a small batch of something next year.
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Ok sounds like I should just stick with Crandall.
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Drew,
My sister grows a clove currant that’s been in my family since the 50s at least but it produces very few berries in comparison with the types I grow. Some things like the clove currant we grow because they have been in the family so long. My mom received it as a gift from her sister and my sister received it from my mom. Some things my family grows have been grown by our family over a hundred years. Many things have improved since then. The Crandall was the improvement on those older varieties and it to has all but been forgotten. That yellow clove currant I grow has smaller berries that don’t taste as good but there are not a lot of them around. I’ve never in my life saw another. I have read about them. I separated an old strain of clove currants out knowing they would revert to the original berry which I knew was a true yellow currant. They have black currants now they call yellow currants but the original parent was a true yellow currant like the one in the picture. There are red clove currants as well. Maybe they are common some where like juneberries, buffalo berries , Aronia’s or other things I grow. A friend who started the bluebird nursery sent me a few Crandall currents to trial here because he thought I might like them. Several years prior I purchased my Viking Aronia’s from him. He was an expert fruit grower Miller Funeral Home: Obituary
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That bag of red currants looks like a treasure trove of rubies. Beautiful.
How do the white strawberries taste? Are they flavorful compared to regular strawberries?
I think it’s great that you continue to grow so many plants that have such a long and personal history. I think it’s important to keep those gene lines alive and kickin’.
They have a complex taste. They are called pineberries because you first taste a pineapple like taste followed by strawberry. I make preserves with them.
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I am looking at ordering Crandall from Pense nurseries (they have really good prices & free shipping at $40 and I liked their raspberries and blackberries last year. Hopefully the currant will be true to name and healthy as well.)
But I keep finding conflicting information on the internet about it as has been mentioned in this thread. Does anyone know for sure if it will be able to bear on its own (I could get two Crandall’s but I don’t know if that makes it better or is really the same as one.)? I could also get Red lake or a different black currant (non clove) but do those pollinate it? I really like the description of Crandall and don’t want to have to get other currants if I don’t have to.
I saw that, too. I called Whitman Farms to ask about whether or not it’s self-fertile. I was told that it is. I ordered one in the fall. Fingers crossed that it’s as good as it sounds…tasty fruit, really hardy and very fragrant flowers in the Spring.
Good luck!
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This was concerning currants, I just wanted to add that I also used them for crisps with peaches and nectarines, and for smoothies, they did not last long! I also said seeds are an issue, well not really, they are big, but I never even notice them. I expect a huge crop this year. Many of my plants are mature, and will produce like crazy. I also started 4 more plants from cuttings. Although these are going to my cottage, they work there, one of the few fruits that produce in the shade, but harvest is small. 4 plants there produce what one plant will here in full sun.
I think I’d rather have two of the Crandall’s than add a different currant this year. I always like having two plants of similar height & spread in a given planting area anyway, looks nicer than an imbalance.
I want to plant it in an area designated for ornamental and unusual fruit so it sounds perfect. I’d love to use the fruit for cobblers and jam.
If you’re doing it for pollination I would get one from two nurseries then. That still might not work. Crandall’s are produced by cuttings, so they are all exact clones. having two is no different than having one. Unless you know they came from seedlings, and some seedlings will not produce, are risky to use, and could damage a nursery’s reputation. I would almost guarantee they are all clones.
If you want two for more for production and or to fit that space you have that is different, by all means. They are self fertile, it doesn’t matter.
I think what Lucile (at Whitmans) says is true, I myself plan on getting one from her.
“Also called clove currant, this is not a black currant except in color. It ripens much later, is bigger and sweeter without the black currant muskiness. The yellow flowers in spring are spicy sweet and the bush is large (5′-6′) and open and has lovely fall color. see pic. I just got this additional info from one of my customers: The Crandall selection was from a wild stand of ribes odoratum found by a farmer west of Newton, KS in 1888. He developed the strain, which had extra sweetness and larger berry size. The original stand is gone now and I don’t remember who sent me my original plant thirty years ago, but I got a better strain from Colorado about 20 years ago. Some Crandalls bear better than others and because they are hard to root, I suspect that some nurseries are selling seedlings.”
You can get a bundle of clove currants for under $1 each if you order them in bundles of 25. It would be the way to go if you want a row of them. 25 will cost you $20 . http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation_trees/products/shrubs/goldencurrant.html
Some of these clove currant bushes are nearly identical to Crandall clove currants. I’m confident since I grow them both if you want to grow a wide variety that will pollinate each other these are the right bushes to grow. There will be yellow and black ones mixed in like those in the picture i posted above.
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Yes, that is what I am thinking. I love the variety of plants Whitmans carries but I am running out of budget for this year so am looking at the cheapest option, lol.
Wow, that’s a great source. Thanks! Even with shipping to me in VA it was showing as only $35 total. I unfortunately don’t have the ability to plant that many this year but I will keep that in mind if we like the Crandall. I like the diversity you’ve described. We have several places on our property that we want to plant hedgerows in the coming years.
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It’s a great program just let them know it’s an out of state order like you did and they send you a nice bundle of 25 probably cheaper than you can get 2 bushes most places.
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I picked up a clove currant at our local thrift stores plant sale 3 years ago. (Plants are donated by locals as well as some grown by the shop volunteers)
It’s growing well and put out lots of lovely blooms this year. It looked like it had set fruit but they have all failed and fallen off.
Do you know if there is any way to confirm exactly what type of clove it is?
I have the regular black currants as well as some red but I don’t think either will provide cross to the clove.
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When they say it is sweeter than black currant, do they mean more sugar, or less acid?
My black currants get high brix when allowed to hang. The Crandall I’ve had, maybe to much shade, don’t taste like they have nearly as much. In fact, seem very uninteresting flavor compared to black currants.
They seem like black currants for people who don’t like black currants.
BTW, even for jam I let my black currants get much blacker than mrsg47 there. Definitely no red, maybe a few with purple tinge. For fresh eating, no hint of purple.
We got a ton of rain last week and mine are just about bursting. If I don’t get them picked this weekend its going to get ugly. But some of them are huge, soft and relatively mild.
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Probably less acid. Or just the lack of musky flavor seem sweeter to those who don’t like it. I think you nailed it with the description “black currants for those who don’t like black currants”. I just mix them in with my other currants. I’m with you I love that strong flavor. Unlike you I think Crandall has its own flavor and I like it too.
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