White currant

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About White currant
White currant is a thick bushy shrub that can be found up to altitudes that reach 1,300 meters. The small currants are arranged in racemes and they have the shape of a sphere, being white or red. They are great as main ingredients in jellies, jams or syrups. Currant and gooseberry develop in trained hedges or open clusters while the flowering occurs in April and the harvesting starts in the third year and reaches its maximum in the fifth year. Some common names for currants are: Ribes in Danish, Swedish and Italian, Groseille in French, or Bes in Flemish. The currants need humid and cool areas in summer and great winter chilling in order to grow well. The leaves of this plant are single, alternate, maple-like and lobed while the flowers are self-fertile and the pollination is made by hoverflies or other insects. The fruits of white currant are translucent. Currants require a lot of water and the morning sun is excellent or their growth. These fruit are great in jelly, sauces, pies, but they can also be used in producing wines and liqueurs.

A berry, much like a small grape, native to France and northern Europe that is related to the gooseberry. Currant berries grow in cool regions amongst abundant moisture, growing as black, red, and white varieties. They are a juicy berry with a sweet to tart flavor. The white currant is the sweetest of all three varieties (white, red and black currants), providing a juicy sweet flavor for a variety of foods. The berries of the white currant are most often used for desserts, summer salads and soups, succulent sauces for poultry or pork, sweet or tart jams or sorbets, and eaten fresh, out of hand, since they have a sweeter taste.

Buying White currant
As with any fruit, you can get ridiculously expensive White currants or ordinary decently priced ones. Depending on what type of dish you are preparing, you might want to adjust your cooking budget to the type of White currants you need. In general, the cost of White currants is perfectly acceptable by any standards and they are often considered some of the most accessible fruits you can use in your fruit salads or deserts. Depending on different cuisines and regions of the world, White currants may be considered a common fruit or a delicacy. Most European countries, for example, don’t see White currants as an expensive and hard-to-get fruit, bur some African countries might rarely use them in their traditional dishes. Although in extreme cases White currants will not be available at all, because of imports, many countries that don’t traditionally grow them always have a full and fresh supply of White currants on the fruit market.

Preparing White currant
One of the most important elements that define any fruit preparation method today involves the cooking time. The faster you can cook a certain fruit, the more popular it is, it seems. White currants are mostly used for filling for cakes and pastry items, but there are diverse ways of preparing them. Compotes using this fruit are often very popular in many cuisines and the nutritious values of White currants are often saved through smart preservation techniques. While in most cases, preparing White currants for a dessert or a drink will not take more than a few minutes, you can also boil them and use them as such in various main meals and desserts. When boiling, you should also take into consideration the particular type of White currant you are using, as some are firmer than others and take longer to prepare.

Cooking White currant
There are so many ways in which you can sue White currants in your culinary arts. White currant preparation methods and dish types differ from one region to another, and many people are experiencing this fruit in a totally different way than what they were used to when they taste a national cuisine dish belonging to another country. Most of the dishes containing White currants are desserts and snacks, but some countries also use them in combination with salty items such as meat or Fruits. White currants are widely appreciated in many national cuisines, and this is clearly seen in the diversity of methods that chefs all over the world created for their preparation.


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