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Currants and Gooseberries

The dried currants of commerce, so favourite an ingredient in cakes, puddings, and other dishes, are not related to the garden currant (although once in a while the latter is also dried for domestic purposes), being in reality a kind of raisin or grape (Passulæ minores) raised and dried in the Levant and exported from there in large quantities, as Corinthian raisins or Zante currants (see Currants under Grapes). Currants proper belong to the genus Ribes, of the Grossulariacea, these being the spineless, twin-relative of the spiny gooseberry. Ribes is supposed to be an Arabic name and, as a matter of fact, the currant grows wild in Asia, Europe, and parts of America. The name "currant" is, in Australia, applied to other (native) berries of that continent as well as to the cultivated, garden currants introduced from England. There are red, white, black, and yellow garden currants, variously valued, the red considered best for most wines, shrubs or vinegars, and tart jellies; the white for simple dessert fruit, uncooked, and the black for medicinal decoctions, although the black currant is also much used in preserves, vinegars, etc., and in France a certain liqueur, Liqueur de Cassis, is manufactured from it. All currants, like "red gooseberries," contain citric acid and there is a particular tonic quality in the black currant which is considered excellent for the kidneys and bladder, for promoting perspiration, and for inflamed throats. Currants and raspberries, combined, have become famous in several forms and the red currant is a great addition to various fruit jellies.

The gooseberry, Ribes grossularia, is especially famed and loved as an English garden fruit. Varieties of gooseberries wild are to be found in parts of Europe, Asia, and America, certain species growing in Japan, Siberia, India, and Canada, where they are made use of. Notwithstanding the general growth of the gooseberry over this wide expanse of territory, it seems not to have become known as a cultivated fruit until comparatively recent times; nothing definite being known regarding it until about two hundred years ago when attention began to be paid to it in Lancashire. Its name indicates an earlier French "residence" or transition period and claim upon French interest since "gooseberry" is supposed to be a corruption of the French "groseille," from which is derived the Scotch "grozart," or "grozet." In some places in England it is known as "feaberry." Pies and tarts made from it have become famous in rhyme and the annals of English domestic life would not be complete without frequent mention of the gooseberry, most delicious in its perfection. English it essentially now is, having attained its fullest beauty and richness in England and being comparatively little known in its most luscious form elsewhere, unless we except France. Gooseberry wine vies with champagne. In various preserves and vinegars it is excellent and it may be kept for a long time in the fresh state sealed in heated bottles.