i let mine hang until they get a little shriveled. got to be gentle picking them but they are going for jam anyway. birds don’t touch my consorts but love crandalls.
I thought they were self fertile…I have them planted with my black currants so pollination is not an issue…I am just enjoying some clove currant (buffalo currant) jam…absolutely delicious…I wasn’t sure what it would be like…I enjoy tart things so I don’t mind them fresh off the plant but I must say jam is the way to go…although there is little similarity to black currants when fresh…the jam brings out a delicious black currant flavour…not quite as ‘zingy’ as black currant but almost…and chewy skins which you may or may not like…I like it…kinda like a course marmalade in texture. It was an experiment and I can not believe how good it turned out. What is also nice is that the berries are larger in size and quite productive…they look like little hematite marbles…metallic grey.I don’t know about being ‘hard to root’…that may be the case…I will find out if my newer cutting die…but there is a tendency to sprawl…which I don’t like because the berries are on the ground…I cut those lower branches off to try to prune into a more upright form…on the other hand if you bury them I think you can easily propagate new plants from them as they do seem to root easily as other currants do.
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Yes that is true. I will add the skin being tough keeps SWD fruit flies away!
I heard they were hard to root, although mine is suckering a lot which is even better.
Yes they sprawl, maybe that changes with age? I also have other golden currants and they sprawl too. Crandall is a cultivar of goldens. many wild forms exist with many different traits like berry color, leaf shape, etc. Sub species exist and many view crandall as a sub species.
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mine are sprawling as well but is getting better with age. not as vigorous as my black currants are but they are in a drier spot in the yard also.
Anyone ever try some of the currents available from Kansas?
http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation_trees/products/shrubs/goldencurrant.html
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the goldens i had from CO were WPBR magnets so i ripped them out. were defoliated completely by mid june.
Hi, I’m new here, just came across this thread on Google. I’m very interested in growing Crandalls (having read about them in Lee Reich’s Uncommon Fruits books). You folks have already answered several of my questions (thanks!), but here are two more:
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Your photos of unripe Crandalls look a lot like unripe gooseberries. Do they by any chance taste enough like them to make a good green-gooseberry-type pie?
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I’m also fond of Concord grape pie, but they’re so labor-intensive (because of the hard seeds) that I’ve only ever made one. Y’all say that Crandalls taste kinda grape-y. Have any of you made Crandall pies (with no other fruit included)? Do you put in the berries whole, or what?
I was originally interested in Crandall bushes for the flowers (for our noses and our hummingbirds), but I’m becoming enthusiastic about trying the fruit as well.
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Hey Carol, I find the green/not fully ripe crandalls to be very astringent…not just sour like green gooseberries. Fully ripe they are decent out of hand and would makevawesome pie/jam…just dont have enough production yet
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As far as self fertile i dunno, i also have gooseberries, red/black currants about 50ft away…i would guess yes but thats just a gut response
Yes, it’s self-fertile. I only have one baby plant. It set fruit this year. Beautiful flowers in Spring and fruit in gorgeous ripening colors of green to ruby red to black. Pretty tasty/tangy when fully ripe. Doesn’t have that slightly sweet/tart flavor of gooseberries it has its own personality. Me likey 
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Just started mine in April.
Front bed
(left) ribes odoratum -clove- Crandall cultivar
(Right) ribes aureum -golden- unknown
2nd bed (behind banana pepper) another golden; 3rd bed another Crandall
All were monster growers this year. Didn’t expect any fruit this year, but Crandall’s fruited very few --enough to try. The Golden’s didn’t fruit but put on pretty amazing growth – hoping they fruit next year. My understanding is that Crandall is self fruiting but I wasn’t sure about aureum so I just planted in pairs with the idea they might cross pollinate.
Clove currants have the clove smell when they are in bloom – really nice 
Note: pics from a little earlier this season – they are starting to turn a pretty red/maroon fall color now.
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Thanks, Carlin & bluebird – that’s helpful information. I’ll be sure to let 'em ripen fully!
I have what i thought was a crandall currant from pense, planted last year. It put on about 3 feet of growth over the summer and this year it has some blossoms. It looks more like a jostaberry or black currant than a clove currant to me, but just wanted to see what others think.
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Sure doesn’t look like Crandall to me!
It’s not Crandall but looks interesting! I can send you wood next year, It could be Ribes sanguineum.
That is not red, white, black, or clove. None I have look like that.
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Not crandall clove current but fascinated to know what it is.
Like others said, not Crandall. Crandall flowers are more like slender little trumpets and they are a fairly bright yellow. Very nice in terms of flowers, but I’m unimpressed by the taste, probably because it isn’t the intense flavor I like from black currents. Mine is also suckering a fair amount so I would be careful where you plant one since you may get it popping up amongst its neighbors.
It is a ribes plant. Their are a lot of them, but in a regular nursery you would not find say swamp currant
(Ribes triste). So maybe Ribes sanguineum. or a cultivar from it.
Here is the species plant.
I have the Sangruineum sub species King Edward VII.
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Thanks for all the replies. I will post some pictures once fruit develops to see if that further helps with identification.
Off topic, but what brand raised beds are in the rear in this picture? the galvanized ones. That looks like the Vigo bed in the front, I’ve been getting a lot of ads for them.
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