White currant

[hortusbrambonii]

My great-grandmother used to have white currant shrubs when I was a kid, and there are still descendants of those plants in the garden of my parents. White currents are a variety of red currants (Ribes rubrum) that are lighter in color and sweeter in taste. The ones we have do give an enormous amount of berries, that I like a lot. They also seem to come true from seed.

I've always found white currant to be a quite normal fruit, until I recently realised that I'd never seen them anywhere in a store, only the red ones. Which is weird, because I like the taste of the white ones much more...

So now I am curious: it a regular fruit in other places?

[copse]

Not a regular fruit.  It is possible to buy white currant here. I bought mine at Bunnings, which I think is an Australian/New Zealand chain. I'd say it is less common than red currant, which is less common than black currant.

[raymondo]

Here we occasionally have red currant fruit in the shops but I've never seen either white or black currant fruit for sale. The plants are readily available for all three in the areas in which they grow.

[ferdzy]

I've seen them occasionally at the very large farmers market closest to us. Any of the currants or gooseberries are unusual to see though. I have a bush in my garden planted by the previous owners, along with red currants, gooseberries and jostaberries. Yes, the previous owners were Dutch. I doubt I would have these things otherwise.

[copse]

I should add, it's been a long time since I've seen fresh currants for sale. I was thinking ability to buy plants.

[steev]

I think strength of flavor goes: black; red; white. Many people find black too assertive and white too mild. That mildness would explain why most white currants get used in baby food.

[hortusbrambonii]

blackcurrants are turned to jams and 'cassis' liquors (and 'cassis' lemonade in the Netherlands) but I've rarely seen fresh ones in shops. I think their taste is too strong and specific... Red ones can be found regularly when it's their season here, and then again around Christmas (from the southern hemisphere?) at quite high prices. But I don't know if I ever have seen white ones in a shop.

But it's probably true they're only eaten a lot by people growing them themselves. As is the case with Jostaberries too...

I don't find the white ones to have less taste, they just have a lot less of the acidity...

[richardw]

I had the white current for a number of years but got pissed off with them in the end and pulled them out,i found that they stuffed too much from die back

[trixtrax]

The variety we have here is called White Icicle