Red Currants© Denzil Green
Red Currants are small, round, red translucent “berries.”
The fruit is a favourite for jellies and sauces because of its tart flavour and high pectin.
Fresh Red Currants tend to be sold in punnets or small boxes with their stems and stalks still attached. Frozen ones will normally have stems and stalks removed.
Red Currant bushes are hardy and will grow anywhere — hedgerows, ditches, or in gardens.
Wild Red Currants are always red; recent cultivated varieties include whitish ones.
Red currants have an average pH of 2.8 (range 2.5 to 3.2). [1]
Cooking Tips
Wash by swishing in a bowl of water. Drain in a colander, remove stems.
Some suggest using a fork to comb the berries off their stalks, but often it is just as easy to “comb” them through your fingers.
If making jelly, you can leave the washed stalks on — they will strain out in the jelly bag.
Nutrition
Some folk medicine practitioners say that Red Currant jelly is antiseptic, and if applied immediately can ease the pain of a burn and prevent the formation of blisters.
 |
|
Amount
|
| Calories | |
21
|
| Vitamin C | |
30 mg
|
Equivalents
1 pound = 450g = 2 to 2 ½ cups
500 g = 3 cups
4 oz = 115g = ¾ cup
Storage Hints
Store unwashed in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to 4 days. Freeze for up to 1 year.
Language Notes
Often spelled in a vaguely Germanic way as all one word, “Redcurrants”.
Sources
[1] IQF Red Currants. The PROgram Company. Accessed July 2015 at http://www.profruit.com/currants.html#rcur.
Rentschler, Kay. The Bold Red Berry With a Zest for Summer. New York Times. 3 July 2002