Blackcurrants (gouache style)

Both currants belong to the genus Ribes. Blackcurrants are known for their sharp flavour and high vitamin C, and their leaves smell strongly when crushed, which is a handy way to tell the bushes apart. Redcurrants are brighter and more translucent, and white currants are simply a pale form of redcurrant. The 'Ben' series of blackcurrants, including 'Ben Lomond' and the compact 'Ben Sarek', was bred in Scotland. Both fruits hang in strings called strigs.

Plant bare-root bushes from November to March. Blackcurrants are set a little deeper than they grew in the nursery to encourage new shoots from the base, and they're hungry plants that appreciate a spring mulch of well-rotted manure. Each winter, cut some of the oldest blackcurrant stems out at ground level. Redcurrants fruit on older wood, so they're grown as an open goblet on a short leg, with side shoots shortened in June and again in winter. Pick both in July, and net the bushes against birds.

This picture shows strings of blackcurrants and redcurrants hanging together among green leaves. Dark and bright fruit side by side make the difference between the two easy to see. The full strigs catch the brief midsummer window when both are ripe at once, just before birds find them.