Harvesting Blackcurrants

It’s time to harvest the Blackcurrants. They’re so ripe I can actually smell them as I walk past the bush. I only have one Blackcurrant bush but it’s always dripping in berries so I always have more than enough.

I usually use the Sarah Raven method for harvesting Blackcurrants by cutting whole branches out with berries on them and picking them at my leisure. This solves two problems in one by pruning the old wood out and making it easier to pick the berries.

I didn’t prune all of the fruiting branches out because that would make the bush too small. I only pruned about a third of them out and next year I will prune the rest. Those branches will still fruit but just a little further up on the new wood.

I’ve made a few things in the past with my Blackcurrants:

This time I made Blackcurrant Cake from a recipe I found online. It was lovely, however next time I would put more sugar in as the Blackcurrants were still just a tad sharp.

Have fun with your Blackcurrants, if you have any, if you don’t then get some for next year :)

Category: Growing Fruit, Vegetables     Tagged: ,

16 Comments on “Harvesting Blackcurrants”

  1. there is something pretty special about the humble blackcurrant. less beautiful than the jewel-like redcurrants but still great to behold! and super-tasty :)

  2. Delurking to ask did you do anything special with your blackcurrant bush? I purchased a red currant bush and earlier on a tiny bunch of berries appeared and now nothing.

    Enjoy your fruit.

  4. I love the fact that your nails are perfectly polished as you’re picking your currants!

  6. I love black currents. I lived in Norway for a while a long time ago. We made and canned black current juice and drank it all through the winter. Your post brought back some wonderful memories.

  7. Returned from the allotment this evening with my container of blackcurrants and wondered what to do with them…..problem solved, tomorrow it will be the Blackcurrant Cake!
    p.s. how do you keep your hands so immaculate?

  8. I’m so jealous! I just planted two tiny bushes in April, and can’t wait for my harvest in a year or two.

  9. We need about two weeks worth of sun in the north before they will be ripe, although after that there is going to be a huge glut from my monster bush.

  10. Made the cake today………delicious, added a touch more sugar as you had mentioned the tartness of the blackcurrants. Definately recommended, perhaps with a scoop of ice cream too!

  11. Real Mrs Wilson – I get asked that a lot. Maybe I should start a ‘gardening hands’ section :) I’d like to say that I sit in front of the TV every night with my nail polish and nail file beautifying my hands but that’s not true. I have my nails done every two weeks at a nail salon in town. “It’s my one weakness”, as Dorcas Lane would say!

  12. oh, your blackcurrants look divine. What amazing color and shine. Thank you for your beautiful photos and sharing – can’t wait to try some of the recipes. Thank you!

  13. We are very lucky because near to our house we have a few very large bushes. The birds always leave plenty for us to make lots of yummy things in the kitchen.

  14. Picked my blackcurrants yesterday and went straight home to make jam, it turned out really well. I inherited four bushes when I got my allotment and each year it is a battle with the wretched pigeons. My netting was disrupted by the recent bad weather and wind so only got about half the berries I had seen; there are some very fat birds waddling about now!

  15. Thanks for this article! I would love to try your jelly recipe. I made some muffins from my black currants and wrote up something about that here: wholegreenlove.com. Last time I was at the farmers marker, no one was selling them! I don’t know tons about currants, how long is their growing season?

  16. I generally harvest between 15 – 20 lbs of blackcurrants a year. Straight in the freezer. Use them for ‘smoothies’.

    150 – 200 grms of blackcurrants
    200 – 300 grams of yoghurt (I make my own – about 1.2 litres a week – all in one batch)
    500 – 600 mls of milk
    Sugar to taste.

    Place in blender and whisk for 20 – 30 seconds. (I don’t bother to sieve as we don’t mind the pips). Keep in fridge and use within 3 days or alternative add 2-3 drops of 1% sodium metabisulphite or else fermentation will start.