Redcurrant

Ribes spp.

fruit

Small, tart red berries in clusters, from a western European shrub that birds adore; as jelly, syrup, or raw on a dessert. They provide vitamin C, pectins and fibre.

Origin

Northern Europe

Season (United States)

June to August · grows in your region

Preparation

The berries are stripped from their stalks with a fork and eaten raw, sprinkled with a little sugar, or cooked into jelly and syrup; skin and tiny seeds are eaten. Its skin is eaten, and that is where its polyphenols sit: worth keeping, then — but under running water, rubbing it, which is what takes off most of what settles there, organic or not.

Molecules

Pectins · Vitamin C · Insoluble fibersIn small amounts, not counted Anthocyanins

Did you know?

In Bar-le-Duc, currant jam is deseeded by hand, berry by berry, with a goose feather — a gesture handed down from monks.