Growing Blackcurrants

GROW YOUR OWN BLACK CURRANTS

Black currant (Ribes nigrum) is a popular fruit, both for its flavor and for its extremely high concentration of vitamin C. Blackcurrant bushes are very easy to grow and produce lots of delicious berries. Blackcurrants have a tart flavor they do sweeten when fully ripe and can be eaten fresh but most commonly are made into jelly, jam, juice, ice cream, cordial and liqueur. In Russia it is common to infuse slightly sweetened vodka with blackcurrant leaves, making a deep yellowish-green beverage with a sharp flavour and an astringent taste. Blackcurrant berries can also be used to flavour vodka. Here is how to grow them in your own home garden.

Planting And Growing

• Blackcurrants are very frost tolerant and need cold winters to grow their best.
• Buy two-year-old plants, which have at least two stems of pencil thickness. You will see blackcurrants for sale in two forms: bare-root stock (as the name suggested, the roots are exposed when you purchase these plants) or in containers. 
• Bare-root plants should be planted from late autumn; containerised plants can be planted at any time of year, as long as the soil is not too wet.
• Choose a spot with full sun. They can grow with some shade but prefer full sun.
• Black Currants can be long lived so be sure to prepare the soil well before planting. Add compost or well-rotted manure to the hole before planting. 
• Plant the canes slightly deeper than they were growing previously (look for soil mark on stem). Plants should be spaced 3 feet apart in rows 6 feet apart.
• Prune back to 2 buds so as to encourage vigorous growth. It is important to have 2-4 inches of mulch around the plants as they like cool, moist soil. Straw, bark, or grass  clippings all work well.
• Feed in spring with a balanced fertiliser such as growmore applied at 100g per sq m, then mulch the surface with bulky organic material. 
• Water in dry spells, especially when the fruit starts to swell.

Pruning Black Currant Plant

• Prune in winter a year or two after planting, once the plant has seven or eight good branches. Remove a third of the branches, starting with the oldest (darkest), cutting them down to ground level or to a strong new side branch to encourage new shoots.
• Up to and including the fourth year after planting, remove weak, wispy shoots, retaining a basic structure of six to 10 healthy shoots. 
• After year four, cut out about one-third of the older wood at the base, using a pruning saw. This will encourage and make room for younger, healthy wood. 
• Also remove weak shoots and low ones leaning towards the ground.

If growing in a container

• Choose one that is 45-50cm (18-20in) in diameter. 
• When planting, place some crocks (small pieces of broken concrete, clay pots, or polystyrene) in the bottom of the containers to retain moisture. 
• Use a good-quality compost (John Innes No 3 is ideal), or multi-purpose compost mixed with one-third by volume of grit. Re-pot container-grown blackcurrants every two or three years. Pot back into the same container or one slightly larger. 
• Trim back some of the roots and tease away the old soil replacing it with fresh John Innes No 3 compost.

Harvesting And Storage

• Harvest the fruit on modern varieties such as the ‘Ben Sarek’, ‘Ben Hope’, ‘Ben Lomond’ and ‘Ben Connan’ by cutting the strigs (bunches of fruit) as they turn black. 
• Older types of blackcurrant varieties ripen at different times, with the currants at the top of the strig ripening first. The fruit should therefore be picked individually.
• Eat fresh blackcurrants within a few days of harvesting. Alternatively, they can be frozen, cooked, or made into jam or jelly.

Few Health Benefits Of Black Currants

• Cures menopause- Black currants are an excellent fruit for women especially, on account of their numerous benefits such as treating the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, menopause, breast tenderness and painful periods. Black currants are also helpful in enhancing one’s overall immunity.
• Treating skin diseases- The herbal remedy prepared using the buds of the black currant plant are used in the treatment of urticaris and the fruits of the black currant are used as a natural remedy for treating skin conditions such as insect stings, dermatosis, abcess and eczemas.
• Prevents Breast Cancer- Black currants are also known to have anti-cancer properties as they have a high proportion of vitamin C and hence are known to be effective in fighting against breast cancer and colon cancer cells.
• Cures Arthritis- Some of the other medicinal uses of black currants include it being very beneficial in the natural treatment of gout, rheumatism and arthritis.
• Prevent's Kidney Related Problem's- Black currant also make it an excellent natural cure for kidney related problems in an individual as the dried leaves of the black currant plant are known to promote flow of urine, work against the formation of bladder stones and also disinfect the urine especially when consumed on a regular basis as a cleansing tea.

Blackcurrant Cheesecake Ice cream Recipe

Ingredients

• 150g tub cream cheese , beaten
• 100g blackcurrant conserve
• 5-6 shortbread biscuits, crumbled into chunks
• 1 plump vanilla pod
• 300ml full-fat milk
• 300ml double cream
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 4 egg yolks

Preparation

• Place a container in the freezer. Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape the seeds out with the point of the knife and tip into a pan with the milk, cream and pod. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 20 mins. For the best flavour, this can be done a few hours beforehand and left to go cold.
• In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together for a few minutes until they turn pale and fluffy. Put the vanilla cream back on the heat until it's just about to boil. Stir in the cream cheese then carefully sieve the liquid onto the yolks, beating with the whisk until completely mixed.
• At this point, get a large bowl of iced water and sit a smaller bowl in it. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook on the lowest heat, stirring slowly and continuously, making sure the spoon touches the bottom of the pan, for about 10 mins until thickened (see rules, below). Strain the custard into the bowl sitting in the iced water and leave to cool, then churn until scoopable (see methods, below).
• Sandwich layers of the ice cream in the container with large dollops of blackcurrant conserve and chunks of biscuit. Freeze until solid.
• Serve chilled and Enjoy!