Blackcurrant

Blackcurrant: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Upright bush of 1–2 m with many stems from the base.

Leaf

Alternate, 3–5-lobed, toothed, 5–10 cm; yellow glands underneath that smell strongly when crushed.

Bark

Light brown and smooth.

Flower

Hanging strings of small greenish-red flowers in April.

Fruit

Black berries (blackcurrants) in July.

Difference from redcurrant

Redcurrant has odourless leaves and red berries.

Flowering: April–May · Harvest and fruit: May–August · Pruning: August and November–February

Identify by feature: Hanging flower clusters · Black berries

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Redcurrant Ribes rubrum: odourless leaves and red berries. Difference from redcurrant

Why grow it?

• Blackcurrants in July for juice, cordial, jam and liqueur.
• The fragrant leaves make a refreshing tea.
• Tough, hardy and undemanding, even in partial shade.
• Early flowers in April for bees and bumblebees.

Blackcurrant: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; in the sun the berries are sweeter.
• Moist, fertile soil that never dries out.
• Allow 1.5 m width per bush.
• Not too close to Weymouth pines: it is an alternate host of white pine blister rust.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Moist to wet

Size

2 m tall, 1.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Redcurrant: Red berries beside the black ones, in the same fruit corner.
• Gooseberry: Harvested in the same month, with the same care.
• Raspberry: Together soft fruit from June into autumn.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Suits the woodland edge or the light shade of: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Best kept away from

• Blister rust alternates between currants and this pine: weymouth pine

Blackcurrant: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or from a pot.
2. Set the bush about 5 cm deeper than before: more young shoots will then come from the base.
3. After planting, cut all stems back to a few buds above the ground; there is no crop in the first year, but the bush becomes stronger.
4. Space the bushes 1.5 m apart and cover the soil with compost.

Care

Watering

Regularly in dry spells, especially as the berries swell.

Feeding

Compost or well-rotted manure in spring: blackcurrants like a rich soil.

Mulching

A thick layer of compost or leaves keeps the soil moist.

Harvest

Pick the strings when the berries are glossy black and soft; another week on the bush makes them sweeter.

Tip: In spring, pick a few young leaves and dry them: they make a refreshing tea that smells of blackcurrant.

Blackcurrant: when to prune it?

Pruning months: August and November–February.

When: After harvest or in winter.

How:

• Blackcurrants fruit mainly on one-year-old wood: every year, saw a third of the oldest branches off at the base.
• Keep the strongest young shoots from the base; remove weak, low-lying and diseased branches.
• If you prune after harvest, cut the old branches with the last berries still on: they are easier to pick at the table.

Caution: Don’t shorten the young one-year-old branches: they carry next year’s crop.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings

In autumn, push 20–25 cm lengths of one-year-old wood into the ground, with all their buds left on: this gives a bush with many stems from the base. They root easily.

Blackcurrant: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• Flowering starts as early as April: cover the bush with fleece during late night frost.

Diseases and pests

• Big bud mite: Swollen, round buds in winter that don’t open; the mite also spreads a virus. Pick them off and put them in the household waste; replace a badly affected bush.
• Aphids: Curled leaves at the shoot tips in spring. Let ladybirds and tits do their work.
• American mildew: A white felty coating on young tips and berries. Prune the bush open and choose a resistant variety.
• White pine blister rust: Orange pustules under the leaves in summer, and early leaf fall. Don’t plant it near Weymouth pines and clear up fallen leaves.

Through the year

• January: Winter pruning: remove the oldest branches at the base.
• February: Last winter pruning; check buds for big bud mite.
• March: Add compost or manure and cover the soil.
• April: Flowering; protect from late night frost.
• June: Berries colour; net against birds.
• July: Harvest.
• August: Prune after harvest: remove the fruited branches.
• November: Planting and hardwood cuttings; winter pruning can begin.
• December: Winter pruning.

What can you use it for?

Food and drink

Blackcurrants for juice, syrup, jam and liqueur; the leaves make a tea.

Caution: Alternate host of white pine blister rust (Weymouth pine).

Edible and useful

Leaves (May–August)

Pick the young, strongly scented leaves from May to August. Fresh or dried, they make a refreshing herbal tea, and a few leaves add a blackcurrant aroma to syrup, ice cream or pickled gherkins.

Berries (July)

Pick whole strigs when all the berries are glossy black, usually in July, and strip them from the stalks at home with a fork. For juice, cordial, jam, jelly, sorbet and crème de cassis.

Storing

Blackcurrants keep for a few days in the fridge and freeze extremely well, even on their stalks. Dry the leaves in the shade and keep them in a closed jar.

Fermenting

In Eastern Europe, blackcurrant leaves traditionally go into the jar with gherkins fermented in brine, together with dill and horseradish.

Caution: Do not eat berries from shrubs you cannot identify with certainty: the black berries of privet, alder buckthorn and ivy, among others, are poisonous. You can recognise blackcurrant by the typical strong blackcurrant smell of its leaves and twigs.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Crème de cassis (Liqueur · ± 1.2 litres · 30 min + 6 weeks steeping)
• Blackcurrant cordial (Syrup · ± 1 litre · 45 min + 3 hours draining)
• Blackcurrant leaf tea with mint (Tea · ± 20 cups · 15 min + 3–5 days drying)
• Blackcurrant sorbet (Dish · ± 500 ml (6 scoops) · 20 min + 4–5 hrs freezing)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Bumblebees

Nectar and pollen for bumblebees, also from deep flowers and early in spring.

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Did you know?

• An alternate host of white pine blister rust: do not plant too close to Weymouth pines.
• Alternate host of white pine blister rust: the fungus needs both a five-needled pine, such as the Weymouth pine, and a currant bush.
• Blackcurrants contain more vitamin C than oranges.
• Crème de cassis is a liqueur from the Dijon area; mixed with white wine, it becomes a kir.
• Crème de cassis comes from the Dijon area. Mixed with white wine it becomes kir, named after Canon Félix Kir, the mayor of Dijon.
• During the Second World War, British children were given blackcurrant syrup as a source of vitamin C, because oranges were scarce.