black currants

[redbird]

One of the things cattitude and adrian_turtle got at the farmers market on Friday was black currants, which Cattitude wanted to try because he likes black currant candy, and Ribena, and other black-currant-flavored things.

We rinsed the raspberries and some of the black currants Friday, for dessert. I tried one first, and said "I don't think I like this." Adrian and then Cattitude also tried them, one currant each, after which we agreed that we didn't like them. There was some discussion of ways to cook with them, but Cattitude was the only one who was at all enthusiastic about trying them instead of cranberries in apple crisp, or using them to make a sauce for duck, and we may abandon the project. Ah, well, now I know.

Comments

[pameladean]

Do you like raw unsweetened cranberries? Black currants similarly benefit from being sweetened. They make really good jam, but I wouldn't blame anybody who didn't plan to make jam to start with and preferred not to do it in hot weather, or really any weather.

P.

[adrian_turtle]

I do, in fact, like plain cranberries. And I like sour cherries a LOT. But when I had the taste of it in my mouth, all the arguments about cooking the black currants like cranberries made me want to whine, "so why don't we just buy a bag of frozen cranberries and cook something we know we like!"

[pameladean]

There's definitely a kind of musty undertone; it's transformed but not eliminated in jam, and I don't expect it would go away just from being baked, alas.

P.