Blackcurrant varieties

[DaiseyTheCow]

Hi,

I would be very grateful if someone could give me some great suggestions for blackcurrant varieties that are as minimally sweet as is possible to procure (and preferably with a mild(er) overall flavour on the lesser end of tart). I currently have 2 Wellington XXX bushes growing in my garden however even these berries picked early are too sweet for my palate (as well as my slightly wonky taste in food, I have a mild carb intolerance). If anyone has any experience with such varieties or suggestions I would be extremely grateful. Many thanks in advance.

[hop-a-long]

Just a thought, but could you plant them in a shady spot, so they don't ripen up as much? I'm not an expert but I think the more sunshine any fruit gets, the more sugars they tend to produce. Blackcurrants are tough old plants in general so I'm sure they'll still produce a crop even in a bad spot!

[Aberdeenplotter]

Ben Connon, hardy and lovely big berries. Not overly sweet but able to be eaten off the bush.

[It never rains..it pours]

A RHS trial had brix ratings on a lot of varieties, if do a web search for rhs blackcurrant trial

[Kirk]

Book I have says Ben Lomond has an acid flavour and Ben More also.
Unsure of mildew resistance, both say some, just what does "some" mean?

[Babru]

A RHS trial had brix ratings on a lot of varieties, if do a web search for rhs blackcurrant trial

Thanks for this, a very useful tip. Browsing around I found lots of other interesting trials too, including raspberries, so has helped me narrow down the ones I will plant this autumn ie Joan J and Polka. It did agree with the top recommendations I had already found in various threads on here!

[ameno]

One thing to remember about Brix rating is that it is purely a measure of the sugar content on the fruit, and it does not necessarily directly correlate with how sweet or not the fruit is.
How sweet or sour the fruit tastes is dependent not only on sugar content but also on acid content, which also varies by variety (as well as by growing conditions). So a lower sugar variety could still taste sweeter than a higher sugar variety if the low sugar one is also low on acid, whereas the high sugar one has more acid.