Currant (fruit)

“ The Large Dutch Red, and White, are much larger varieties and generally preferred in the best Eastern gardens. Every farmer, if he has nothing else, has a long row of currant bushes, and gets, usually, five times as many currants as he can consume. Very few fruits have so few diseases incident to them as the currant. It is not infested with worms, its fruit is subject to no blight, it bears every year, is rarely affected either by severe winters or late frosts, and we do not remember a season in our lives when there was not, at least, a partial currant crop. ”

“ The leaves of the flowering currant give a sort of intermediate flavor between black currants and red. Orange, citron, and lemon leaves impart a flavoring equal to that of the fruit and rind combined, and somewhat different from both. A few leaves added to pies, or boiled in the milk used to bake with rice, or formed into crusts or paste impart an admirable and almost inimitable bouquet. In short, leaves are not half so much used for seasoning purposes as they might be. ”

“ No fruit crop will respond more readily to good care than the currant. Clean cultivation and a liberal use of manure or fertilizers will certainly be followed by well-paying crops. One-or two-year-old plants may be set, 4 by 6 feet. Trim the bush by cutting off most of the suckers below the surface of the ground. The currant should have cool moist soil. If the season is dry, a mulch of straw or leaves will assist the plants to establish themselves.
Currants are easily propagated by mature cuttings of the new or previous year’s canes. ”

“ It was at Zante that my shameful ignorance was made clear to me. Here I learned that the dried fruit of commerce is a dwarf grape, which has nothing in common with currant jelly. Its English name, currant, is taken from the French "raisin de Corinthe," or Corinth grape, a title bestowed because the fruit was first brought into notice at Corinth. We have stolen this name in the most unreasonable way for our red berry. Then, to make the confusion worse, as soon as we have put the genuine currants into our puddings and cakes, we turn round and call them "plums"! ”

“ Currants are almost the only fruit seen in the smaller gardens of our neighborhood; even gooseberries are not so general; both raspberries and strawberries grow wild here in such profusion that few persons cultivate them. Currants, by-the-by, both black and red, are also native plants; the black currant is by no means rare in this State, and very much resembles the varieties cultivated in gardens; the wild red currant is chiefly confined to the northern parts of the country, and it is precisely like that which we cultivate. Both purple and green gooseberries are also found wild in our woods. ”

“ Mode.—Select very fine bunches of red or white currants, and well beat the whites of the eggs. Mix these with the water; then take the currants, a bunch at a time, and dip them in; let them drain for a minute or two, and roll them in very fine pounded sugar. Lay them to dry on paper, when the sugar will crystallize round each currant, and have a very pretty effect. All fresh fruit may be prepared in the same manner; and a mixture of various fruits iced in this manner, and arranged on one dish, looks very well for a summer dessert. ”

“ To destroy the oïdium, a fungal pest that severely injures the plantations, the vines are dusted, at the time the fruit is maturing, with finely-ground brimstone. The currants when sufficiently ripe are gathered and placed on a drying ground, where they are exposed to the sun in layers half an inch thick; from time to time they are turned and swept into heaps, until they become entirely detached from stalk. They are then packed in large butts for exportation. The wine made from the currant-grape is inferior in quality, but is said to be capable of much improvement. ”

“ Stem large ripe black currants and after washing put into the preserving kettle, allowing a cupful of water to each quart of fruit. This is necessary because the black currant is drier than the red or white. Mash with a wooden spoon or pestle, then cover and cook until the currants have reached the boiling point and are soft. Turn into a jelly bag and drain without squeezing. To each pint of the juice allow a half pound loaf sugar. Stir until well mixed, then cook just ten minutes from the time it commences to boil. Overcooking makes it tough and stringy. ”

“ CHAPTER XXVI CURRANTS, CONTINUED—PROPAGATION, VARIETIES Pruning naturally leads to the subject of propagation, for much of that which is cut away, so far from being useless, is often of great value to the nurseryman; and there are few who grow this fruit for market who could not turn many an honest penny if they would take the refuse young wood of the previous summer's growth and develop it into salable bushes. In most instances a market would be found in their own neighborhood. Nothing is easier than success in raising young currant bushes, except failure. ”

“ The fruit from which they are made should be gathered as fresh as it possibly can, except apples, as the mucilage is injured by keeping, and if the fruit has fermented it is entirely destroyed.
Currant Paste.—Put any quantity of ripe currants, either red or white, or a part of each mixed, into a hair sieve, press out their juice into a preserving pan; put it on the fire, and keep it constantly stirred until evaporated to a thick consistence. To each pound of reduced pulp add three quarters [Pg 31] of a pound or a pound of loaf sugar clarified and boiled to the blow. ”

“ In three years a good crop should be secured, if the weeds and wild growth are kept down. A crop ranges between 50 to 100 barrels per acre.
Currant.—As the currant is one of the hardiest and most productive of fruits in the North, so is it often neglected, the patch allowed to become foul with grass, never thinned or trimmed, the worms eating the leaves until, in the course of time, the plants weaken and die. Along the fence is no place to plant currants, or, indeed, any other fruit; plant out in the open, at least 5 feet from anything that will interfere with cultivation. ”

“ Currants are yearly growing in favor and the price of the fruit advancing; and now currant culture is profitable and likely to continue so for a series of years.
Ground can not well be made too rich for currants and gooseberries. Plant in rows four feet apart and plants three feet apart in the rows; give thorough culture or deep mulch over the entire surface, cut out all wood of three years' growth (or after first crop is often considered better) , and a good crop is almost certain. ”

“ I noticed in the month of August another berry growing in bunches or grapes like the currant, on a bush very similar to the currant bush: the leaves of this shrub resemble those of the laurel: they are very thick and always green. The fruit is oblong, and disposed in two rows on the stem: the extremity of the berry is open, having a little speck or tuft like that of an apple. It is not of a particularly fine flavor, but it is wholesome, and one may eat a quantity of it, without inconvenience. The natives make great use of it; they prepare it for the winter by bruising and drying it ”

“ If they are grown as bushes, they need more room—six feet apart each way—and the knife need be used only to secure good form and space for air and light. Two native species—Ribes floridum and Ribes aureum—are cultivated to some extent (for description see "Gray's Botany") . Although these species and their varieties are of little value, Mr. Fuller thinks that they might become the parents of far better kinds than we now have, since they are strong growers, and their fruit is naturally of better flavor than that of the European black currant. ”

“ A teaspoonful of this jelly may be given three or four times in the day to a child with thrush. In Russia the leaves of the black Currant are employed to fabricate brandy made with a coarse spirit. These leaves and the fruit are often combined by our herbalists with the seeds of the wild carrot for stimulating the kidneys in passive dropsy. A medicinal wine is also brewed from the fruit together with honey. In this country we use a decoction of the leaf, or of the bark as a gargle. In Siberia black Currants grow as large as hazel nuts. ”

“ The currant is one of the garden's indispensables. It furnishes us with fruit of just the right degree of tart acidity to fit the season in which it is at its prime, and who does not get a deal of enjoyment out of a green-currant pie?
No kind of small fruit is easier to grow successfully. Worms frequently attack the bushes in spring, and often ruin the crop unless steps are taken to put a prompt end to their depredations, but spraying with Nicoticide infusion will rout them in most cases. ”

“ Boiling the fruit is a practice of decided advantage. From this treatment many tasteless fruits acquire a flavour, as is well known, and many bad flavours are converted into agreeable ones. In no case perhaps is this more remarkable than in the black currant, which, harsh and comparatively insipid in its natural state, acquires by boiling a powerful, and, to most persons, a highly agreeable flavour. In making wine from this variety of currant, the effects of this process are very remarkable ”

“ The simplest method of making currant jelly is perhaps the following: Free the currants from leaves and large stems. Put them in the preserving kettle; crush a few with a wooden vegetable masher or spoon; heat slowly, stirring frequently.
When the currants are hot, crush them with the vegetable masher. Put a hair sieve or strainer over a large bowl; over this spread a double square of cheese cloth. Turn the crushed fruit and juice into the cheese cloth, and let it drain as long as it drips, but do not use [27] pressure. ”

“ Currants and gooseberries should be pruned annually and only the one- or two-year-old wood retained for production. Thinning out in this manner will give better size and quality. Where the currant worm is troublesome the foliage should be dusted with arsenate of lead or Paris green as soon as it is well developed and before the fruit is started. ”

“ Raspberry Jelly.—Put the raspberries in an enamelled preserving-pan over the fire, or in a stone jar in the oven, having first carefully picked out any that are mouldy; squeeze through a piece of cheese cloth, doubled. To each qt. raspberry juice add 1⁄2 pint red currant juice extracted in the same manner; to each pint allow 3⁄4 lb. lump sugar; boil 1⁄2 hour moderately; skim, and stir frequently. Use a wooden spoon for mashing the fruit, and a silver one for skimming; iron spoils the colour.
Red Currant Jelly.— (a) To 3 lb. red currants, which should be fresh and not over ripe, mix 1 lb. ”

“ A season’s output on a recent occasion comprised about 3500 tons of jam, 850 tons of candied peel and 750 gross (108,000 bottles) of bottled fruit. A great deal of the fruit preserved is purchased, whilst much of that grown on the farms is sold. A strigging machine is employed, which does as much work as fifty women in taking currants off their strigs or stalks. Black currant pulp is stored in casks till winter, when there is time to convert it into jam. Strawberries cannot be pulped to advantage, but it is otherwise with raspberries, the pulp of which is largely made. ”

“ When dried, they produce a most beautiful semi-transparent raisin, entirely seedless, with a very thin skin and of very fine flavor. The yield, however, has from some cause or other not been equal to expectations, and, the price of currants being lower than that of other raisins, the former has not been considered as profitable as the Muscatels. Until we import the true black currant from Zante and find the most suitable locality to grow them, it is not likely that currant culture will make much headway in this country. ”

“ Those who have more currants than they have money, will do well to use no wine but of their own manufacture. Break and squeeze the currants, put three pounds and a half of sugar to two quarts of juice and two quarts of water. Put in a keg or barrel. Do not close the bung tight for three or four days, that the air may escape while it is fermenting. After it is done fermenting, close it up tight. Where raspberries are plenty, it is a great improvement to use half raspberry juice, and half currant juice. Brandy is unnecessary when the above-mentioned proportions are observed. ”

“ CURRANT JELLY.— The currants should be large, fine, and fully ripe. The best and sweetest currants grow in the shade; and the largest, also. If exposed to the full heat of our American sun, it turns them sour, dries up the juice, and withers their growth. Gather them when fully ripe, strip them from the stems into a cullender, and wash and drain them. ”

“ Very noticeable in the bluffs along the large rivers where it dots the gray and greening hillsides with splotches of color. The foliage and bark are also good, so that it is well worthy of note for roadside planting.
Ribes aureum.—Sometimes called the flowering currant. A very hardy native, useful for massing. It bears bright yellow flowers, whose spicy fragrance soon call attention to it when in bloom. Grows from 4 to 7 feet high and spreads rapidly by suckers. Other species of currant and gooseberries are valuable for massing. ”

“ This shows how much the growers are opposed to experimenting and improving upon the methods which have been handed down to them from their forefathers. As we have shown, the currant vines are all very closely pruned, very much in the same way as our Muscats. Seldom more than three spurs are allowed to remain, each one with two or three eyes. Summer pruning or topping the branches is never practiced on the currant vines, but generally on the wine grapes. ”