Currant bushes

[Moopmoop]

Hi all, can't remember if I've asked this before so apologies to those with a better memory than me. What do other people do with their currants? At the minute I've got a blackcurrant and redcurrant bush but I've had no fruit yet cos they're just young. My fingers keep wanting to buy a pink and white currant but what would I do with the fruit? I'm too lazy/busy to make jellies and jams and I don't really have a sweet tooth so wouldn't use them day to day in desserts etc. I tend to eat my fruit just as it is, can you do that with these currants?

[starloc]

Some people do eat them raw....no idea how they do, but they do!
We boil them with sugar to make mikshake syrup, stewed fruit for with custard, or cook them in a pyrex bowl with crumble on top

I tried eating one raw once.....never again, apparently some varieties are nice raw

Fruit leather might work?

[veggiechicken]

I find blackcurrants have a "stronger" taste than red or white. They're all quite small, compared to a raspberry or a gooseberry so you have to eat a handful at a time. None of them are sweet but I can eat them without sugar.
I like them stirred into plain yoghurt or on my morning granola.

[ancee]

I've eaten red currants off the bush, all six currants that I successfully grew! They were lovely and sweet, not like black currants! Ugh! They are dreadful and I have four bushes of them! I've found you need to make black currants into something, like jam or puddings, whereas reds are lovely picked straight from the bush. Couldn't tell you what variety though as I got it form a bargain section and had to leave it when I moved. I have two whites, but haven't had anything from them yet, they're still new. I'm hoping they are like the Reds and not the black currants

[Dorothy rouse]

Blackcurrants and redcurrant, are delicious as part of a summer pudding, if you have strawberries and/or raspberries, lovely. You can also make them into ice-cream, or just cook a little with some sugar and serve as a compote with ice cream or cream, or plain yogurt.

[Acanthus]

White currants are lovely raw, and the birds don't seem to go for them so can be left to get really plump and ripe and then eaten off the branch like little grapes.

[FlawlessVictory]

The red currants on my allotment were sweet to taste last year, I also liked how sweet red gooseberries get! Blackcurrant is a bit of a strange on raw, I do like it but it misses that sugar that everyone associates with Blackcurrant flavoured things.

[Alison]

I have 1 white, 1 black and 2 red currants and struggle to find what to do with the produce and I make loads of jam, jellies etc. Don't do puddings much though. Fund the blue berries, strawbs and rasps much more useful as they're nicer raw as well as cooked. To be honest if you don't eat much cooked fruit then I think you'll end up wasting most of your currants. Remember the mantra - grow what you eat (and then remind me )

[Speed Gardener]

I freeze upwards of 50lbs of currants each year and use a good handful on my cereals every morning, nice! Some of the black currants make you wince a little, but the others are generally sweet enough. I don't mind a bit of tartness, and the milk tempers the acidity somewhat.
I notice in another post of yours you're looking for pink currants, I get mine from a berry specialist in Belgium, two year old plants with huge root systems for less than a fiver each; they have several varieties of pink currants other that the Gloire des Sablons available over here.
PM me if you want any more detail.

[Ocelot]

I eat them all raw - entire sprigs of redcurrants. Lovely! This year I have a blender/juicer, so any surplus I might add to that.

[The Griff]

I have a red, white and black current, they all fruited well last year and didn't know what to do with them, I mixed them together and my wife made some apple and mixed current crumbles in those tinfoil takeaway type dish's and we put them in the freezer. They make a lovely quick desert straight out of the freezer and in the oven cooked in the tinfoil dish they were frozen in.
We just had the last one a couple of weeks ago, beautiful!

[alldigging]

Rarely eaten raw here, but used to make jam and wine.

And then I discovered vodkatoff. Which is like rumtoff but using vodka. Now that's what I'm planning on making a lot of this year.

[Moopmoop]

Thanks for the suggestions people, I've not bought and more bushes yet and I should probably keep it that way.

Speed Gardener - thanks for that, I'll try and get the garden sorted in the next few weeks and
PM you for the deets. Thanks again