Zante Currants (aka Corinth raisins, or Corinthian raisins) are made from Zante (aka Black Corinth) Grapes. These grapes are small to begin with, so the currants end up about one-quarter the size of raisins.They are seedless, like the grape, very dark, and have a tangy tartness to them.They are not actually currants; they are raisins.
Equivalents
1 cup = 6 oz = 175 g
Literature & Lore
Louis XIII of France was partial to Zante currants (aka Corinth raisins):
“Louis XIII always began his meals with a dish of dried fruit (Corinth raisins for preference)…” — Pinkard, Susan. A Revolution in Taste. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2009. Page 79.
In 1951, Clementine Paddleford alerted her readers in Gourmet Magazine that the currants were returning to the American market:
“Those tiny, sugar-sweet currants of the Greeks, the Zante currants, absent from this market since 1940, are back, so slick and clean and plump you’d scarcely know them. The reason for this is a new packing plant at Aigion, in the northern part of Peloponnesus, built with Marshall Plan aid. Greek currants, it is claimed, have a higher sugar content than any other kind grown. All we know is that bakers have always admired these little black beads for raisin bread or for Christmas fruitcakes and plum puddings, for hot cross buns or for Danish pastries. Few of these newly arrived currants sell at retail, almost all being snapped up by the bakers. R. H. Macy in New York has them, but only now and then.” — Paddleford, Clementine (1898 – 1967). Food Flashes Column. Gourmet Magazine. June 1951.