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

[kareina]

I lived 10+ years in a house with LOTS and LOTS of black currant bushes, so I ate lots of free food. They are a tart berry, which means they work really well in rich deserts--pies made with berries egg and ricotta cheese, for example, or in a crumble with apple or pear.

I dry them and add them to my muesli (they are sweeter dried, but they are so big they take forever to dry).

I boil them in a tiny amount of water to make a thick, tart black currant jam (I don't add sugar) which is really tart, and works well on anything that americans eat with ketchup. I especially love it on lasagne.

and they are an AMAZING addition in spaghetti sauce.

As I recall, I didn't much care for them fresh when I first met them either, but after using them in everything for so many years, now I actually do like them fresh, too.

[redbird]

Boiling them with a tiny amount of water to make a thick, tart jam/condiment seems plausible, and as though it might go well in yogurt, either by itself or with a little maple syrup. Plain whole milk yogurt is inherently sweet, enough so that one of the ways I have it for breakfast is with a little lime juice, or vanilla extract; I don't buy vanilla-flavored yogurt because it always has added sugar, making it too sweet.