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by Stella Otto
A hundred years ago currants were viewed as the "jewel of
fruits," yet today many people have neither seen nor tasted
one. This dramatic reversal of fortune needs to be corrected because
currants are indeed worthy of the nu-merous accolades bestowed
upon them by horticultural writers of times past. 
Patrick Barry, writing in 1883, artfully summed up the currant
to be "a most useful fruit, indeed indispensable to every
garden, ...it possesses a remarkable combination of sweet and
acid, that fits it for an almost endless variety of useful and
agreeable preparations." I agree! If you've ever tasted the
currant's piquant, sweet-tart flavor, you understand. For those
who have yet to enjoy currants, let's just say that when Daniel
Webster wrote the definition of piquant - "agreeably stimulating
to the palate, engagingly provocative" - he must have had
currants in mind.
Currants are best known for the smooth, clear red jelly they produce.
They, along with their close cousin the gooseberry, also are used
for wonderful pies, wine and fresh eating. The black currant shines
in various processed products. High in vitamin C, it makes a fine
breakfast drink. It also is the base for Creme de Cassis liqueur
and a key ingredient in homemade mincemeat.
My first encounters with currants occurred when I was a child.
I was unknowingly lucky! My German mother cultivated a currant
bush in our own suburban yard. At the time, I never gave it much
notice horticulturally. I do, however, remember the sparkling,
translucent red berries our family enjoyed for dessert. Most often
we ate them over tapioca pudding or just plain with sweet cream.
(Ah, in writing this, I've just come to realize why tapioca pudding
is one of my favorite "comfort foods." It's the currants
that go with it that can right most any bad day!) My favorite
Christmas thumbprint cookie recipe just isn't the same either
if it's not made with red currant jelly.
With such alluring depiction, why then do the currant and gooseberry
seem to be hiding in the closet, rather than coming out into full
and glorious view in gardens across the country? Unfortunately
these wonderful berries have been about as misunderstood and maligned
as they have been praised. Theirs is a checkered past.
Currants have been popular in Europe for centuries. Their use
was first noted as early as 1484. Currants, much grown by the
Germans, Dutch and French, and gooseberries, which are particularly
prized by the British, found their way to American gardens without
great fanfare. Initial notice of their importation occurred in
1630 with the mention of "currance" as a crop in "The
Governor's Garden," belonging to John Winthrop, the first
governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The earliest records
listing "Dutch gooseberry and current" for sale occurred
around 1719 in the Boston Gazette. By 1771, William Prince, founder
of the renowned nursery that would later span four generations,
listed currants among his offerings for sale. At a price of six
shillings each, they were listed simply as large red, large white
and large black. Gooseberries were similarly priced and described.
No variety names were given.
Noting their initial importation is not to say that certain varieties
of currants and gooseberries were not also native to North America.
Ulysses Hedrick, in his writings, implies that the native people,
although they grew few berries for actual cultivation, may have
foraged for them in the wild. Lee Reich confirms their use of
native black currants and clove currants. Golden currants were
among the plants brought to Thomas Jefferson by the Lewis and
Clark expedition. It is some of these wild species plants that
could be held to blame for the misunderstanding surrounding this
plant genus and their slow adoption as a prized garden fruit.
Currants and gooseberries both belong to the genus Ribes and are
represented by numerous species. Of those grown for their fruit,
R. rubrum, R. sativum (also known as R. vulgare),and R. petraeum
are the commonly cultivated species of red and white currants.
Black currants, which had their origins in Europe, make up the
species R. nigrum, while R. americanum represents the indigenous
black currant. Cultivated European gooseberries belong to R. uva-crispa,
with the native American gooseberry varieties represented in R.
hirtellum. Grown more for its interest as an adaptable landscape
plant, the native Buffalo, Clove or Missouri currant comprises
the species R. odoratum, thanks to its fragrant blossoms. This
species is sometimes confused with R. aureum, the golden currant,
which has smaller, less fragrant blossoms. With so many species,
is it any wonder that early growers and botanists experienced
some confusion with this genus of plants?
Following their initial importation, the cultivated Ribes species
gradually caught on as hardy, easy-care garden plants well suited
to much of the central and northern United States. They grew so
successfully that some of the species even began to naturalize.
Unfortunately, this also led to the Ribes' brush with notoriety
and misfortune.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, lumbering, especially in
the pine forests of the north, became big business. Like the five-needled
pine species, which played a major part in this lumber boom, certain
species of currant and gooseberry are susceptible to a serious
fungus disease known as White Pine Blister Rust. Although the
rust disease is only an unsightly nuisance for Ribes, it is fatal
to the affected pine species. Unfortunately, the wild currant
and gooseberry species are unwitting accomplices to the disease's
perpetuation. Disease spores spend part of their life cycle on
the pine species and part of their life cycle on the Ribes species.
Without completing both portions of this life cycle, the disease
does not continue and does not cause damage to the pines. In the
early days, even though Ribes might have grown wild on this continent,
they were few in number and randomly distributed, and so received
little attention. Since the increase in Ribes plants coincided
with the economic importance of lumber, people soon noticed that
the Ribes seemed to play a part in the decline of pine trees through
their role in the blister rust cycle. Unfortunately, the disease
cycle was still poorly understood and, in haste, anti-Ribes laws
were enacted both at the state and federal level. Starting in
1918, a ban was imposed against the planting or growing of any
Ribes species. Following the first World War, when jobs were scarce
and the lumber industry was seen as an important factor in maintaining
our economy, programs were put in place to physically eradicate
Ribes plants, both cultivated and wild. Brigades of Civilian Conservation
Corps workers were assigned to the task. From their peak of popularity
in the mid-1800s, when the Prince Nursery listed 147 varieties
of gooseberries, Hedrick notes that 100 years later they had fallen
to a listing of "not a tenth as many." Currants suffered
a corresponding setback in popularity.
Now that we understand more about White Pine Blister Rust, we
know it's the wild Ribes species that are primarily involved in
the disease cycle. The cultivated varieties of currants and gooseberries
play little role in the disease's perpetuation. Although laws
of prohibition still exist in a few states, primarily because
no popular movement has sought to bring them up to date, the federal
ban on growing Ribes was lifted in 1966. growing them is once
again legal in most places, and in many cases, primarily where
five-needled white pine species are not of economic importance,
you can grow those Ribes species that are host to the disease.
(For that you may need a permit from the state department of plant
health or a similar counterpart). To lessen the spread of the
disease, plant the offending species at least 1000 feet away from
any White Pine Blister Rust-affected pine species.
The complete horticultural practice of growing currants and gooseberries
could be an article in itself and is beyond the scope of this
writing. Hopefully, though, when you venture out and grow this
fruit, you will find as Patrick Barry did that "no other
fruit is so patient under bad treatment as the currant, and yet
none yields a more prompt or abundant reward for kindness."
Ribes - sparkling jewels, previously maligned, often misunderstood,
truly magnificent. Try them and you, too, will be puzzled as to
why they aren't grown more frequently.
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