Home made pies and juice (Blackcurrants)

Member Name: January

Product:	Blackcurrants
Date:	05/04/03 (1125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Home made pie's and juice

Disadvantages: none

I always look forward to the blackcurrants ripening at the bottom of my garden every year, as they are another of my favorite fruit and there's nothing quite like a blackcurrant and apple pie with ice-cream. Or fresh juice made in the juicer.

Blackcurrants are very easy to grow, you can buy a plant from the garden center for around 3.99. I always like to wait untill after autumn though as the plants get very cheap in the discount racks. I have one big blackcurrant bush at the bottom of my garden which produces loads of blacurrants each year. A blackcurrant bush should produce a good crop for around twelve years. They are a great way of getting vitamin C and they are very tastey.

The plants like a shadey place but will grow in most places and like moisture during the growing and fruiting so it's good to feed them plenty of water and compost or manure around the base of the plant.
Blackcurrants can be planted from October to the end of March and it is best to cut the bush down to about 5 inches above the ground in the first february after they have been planted. I cut mine down last year too, as it was getting huge and I was a bit scared that I'd killed it, but this year there are loads of new shoots and leaves, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop.

Although picking the fruit is a bit time consuming it is very rewarding once you have made them into a pie or juice, you can sit there and enjoy the luxury of the blackcurrants.
the best time to pick the fruit is when the very top blackcurrants on a strand have gone soft, sometimes they look ripe but are not and picking them too early will only give you sour blackcurrants.
One of the best fruiting varieties of blackcurrant is called Baldwin but the Mendip Cross is also good as it produces bigger fruit which makes it easier to pick.

If you have a garden and like blackcurrants then have a go at growing one, you will love the benefits of being able to make your own
pies and juice, children enjoy picking fruit too as my grandchildren love visiting when things are ripe in the garden, sometimes it's a hard job getting enough fruit past their mouths to make a pie or juice.

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