Heirloom currants - taste test
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 лип 2022
- Planting up a new fruit cage has given us an opportunity to try some new varieties of red, white, and black currant - well, old varieties, but new to us. In this video I talk about the varieties and taste the fruit - modern varieties may improve on various characteristics, such as cold tolerance and yield, but these old sorts are certainly delicious.
So many aphids this year I don’t ever remember having so many 😭😭😭🙏. But the harvests look fantastic and jams galore are in the horizon. Have a fantastic weekend 🐝 safe
Thankfully we also have a large population of ladybirds but even they’ve had to work hard to keep up this season 😕
Hi Jonny. I only have a Blackcurrant Bush in my fruitcage, with Strawberries, Blueberries and Raspberries. I only grow Blackcurrant as I use them for juices and smoothies. I don't know what variety it is, as I dug it up when a plot holder gave up his plot and gave it to me 4 seasons ago. Its cropped its best this year, it was a mature plant back then. As for your Blackcurrant, I agree with you, that's a lot of berries on it, if it had much more, I doubt the Bush would be able to hold them off the ground. I'm so loving my fruitcage I built last year, as the birds had most of my currants before. All the best, John
Indeed - a fruit cage is such a great asset 👍😊
Wilson's Long Bunch is a synonymous with Victoria. Actually, you are tasting in the right one of Fay parents (central).
I was hoping that was the case. I found some sources that said they were the same, but others that listed them as separate varieties. I think there is always a little bit of doubt with the old sorts, but in any event, it produces very nice fruit :)
Years ago I heard that you can harvest blackcurrants by cutting off the whole fruited branch. Have done that ever since and never been short of fruit. It prunes the bush and you can sit down and strip off the fruit in comfort. I make blackcurrant jelly and blackcurrant gin.
Interesting approach... I'm sure that's fine, at least with older branches, though I would worry about removing too much - I guess yours is producing lots of new growth each season. I think the usual advice for black currants is to remove somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the oldest wood each year. This is only its second year so I haven't pruned any old wood yet, but maybe I'll take a few like that next season 👍😊
My bushes are over 30 years old and rather big and they do make a lot of new growth so I get an awful lot of black currents - hence the jelly making. In the winter when the leaves are off and I can see what I'm doing I tidy up the older wood. I don't know what variety they are because I grew them from winter cuttings off plants that were already here, but I don't think they are anything interesting like yours. I much enjoyed the video, by the way, as I always do.
Whatever they are, it sounds as though they are doing very well indeed. That is getting old for a black currant and to still be so productive is great 👍😀
Yes I do that
The one you said was your favorite red currant. What’s its name and where would one get plants or cuttings?
That would be Fay's Prolific. I got mine from R.V. Roger - it was bare root so you might have to wait until winter now.
I would be very interested in where you source the interesting currants. I love blackcurrant jam and would like to find a red too.
Our blackcurrants have been in a few years and are rubbish!
Unfortunately, they can be a bit tricky to find. Bar-le-Duc and Fay's Prolific came from R V Roger. I am loath to recommend where I got the Noir de Bourgogne and Wilson's Long Bunch as their trustpilot reviews are shocking with many repeating similar tales of orders not arriving and lack of response or a rude response to enquiries, so I didn't really hold much hope of either getting the order or of them being decent plants. As it happens, they did arrive - albeit rather late for the bare root season and already starting into leaf - but they were good bushes - a nice bit of root and vigorous stems - so I was satisfied and they seem to have established well. They came from Chris Bowers, who lists a fine array of less common sorts, assuming they are true to type. I knew about their reputation before ordering but decided to risk it anyway and I was fortunate to receive my order as I think many reported orders being cancelled (blamed on covid if I remember correctly). My order was delayed by some months but at least I received it in the end. Bernwode often have some interesting varieties in their list - they at least have Baldwin and a few others.