Blackcurrants are native to Europe and Northern Asia, and are delicious berries. What’s crazy is that growing them was outlawed in the US in the early 1900s because of white pine blister rust, which is bad for trees. The US government didn’t know the high antioxidant and high vitamin content at the time, and it wasn’t until 1966 that jurisdiction over the growth of blackcurrants was shifted to states. It’s being grown in just a few states right now, and states that totally have the soil and space to grow it still have it banned (im looking at you, Maine and New Hampshire).
This post/brief investigation was inspired by Jared chugging a very snazzy looking blackcurrant juice that I taste-tested and enjoyed because of it’s sweet-but-biting taste. He (and apparently others) now tout blackcurrants as the new pomegranate in terms of its fashionable “gourmet” healthiness.
I buy it. I’m now on the hunt for all things blackcurrant, including my next drink at a bar.
Jen Bokoff 