Which black currant?
Choose by how you want to use the fruit, then compare flavour, relative picking season and the reported disease responses. These groups are starting points, not a ranking of performance here.
For fresh eating
For juice and preserves
Earlier picking
Later picking
Large berries
Reported disease resistance or tolerance
Choose this if
Uniform clusters for pressing, preserves and freezing.
A compact bush with large berries, ripening before Ben Lomond.
Large berries with a robust flavour for fresh eating and desserts.
Agotado
An upright bush taller than Ben Sarek, with large flavourful berries.
Large sweet tart berries on a compact bush for a smaller space.
Grosellero negro Ben Tirran
$19.00 CAD
Firm skinned berries for juice and preserves after Ben Lomond.
A strong traditional black currant flavour in a midseason crop.
Agotado
Sweet aromatic berries to extend the picking season.
Grosellero negro Blacksmith
$15.00 CAD
Juicy tender skinned berries on a vigorous, spreading heritage bush.
Very large juicy berries on a vigorous bush.
Grosellero negro Champion
$15.00 CAD
Milder aromatic berries that ripen unevenly, giving several pickings.
Agotado
A heritage choice for the middle of the currant season.
Grosellero negro Crusader
$15.00 CAD
Large berries, with mildew susceptibility to weigh against other choices.
Grosellero negro Eagle
$15.00 CAD
An assertive tart flavour for jam, or fresh if you enjoy a sharp currant.
Agotado
Very large mild sweet berries for fresh eating, juice and baking.
Grosellero negro Mendip Cross
$15.00 CAD
A Long Ashton heritage currant for the middle of the season.
Grosellero negro Seabrook
$15.00 CAD
Dense fruit clusters on an English heritage currant with late flowering.
Robust tangy berries for fresh eating, juice, preserves and baking.
Agotado
Long strings of berries for pressing, preserves and freezing on a compact bush.
Agotado
An early choice with mildly sweet berries for fresh eating or drying.
Agotado
Strong tart berries for juice, preserves and wine.
Grosellero negro Tenah
$15.00 CAD
Sweet tart berries in long clusters that are easy to pick.
Long dense clusters with a later crop and reported disease resistance.
Mildly sweet berries for fresh eating, juice and preserves.
Topsy Black Currant
$15.00 CAD
A heritage midseason choice with briskly acidic berries.
Grosellero negro Viola
$15.00 CAD
Comparatively sweet fully ripe berries for fresh eating.
Sweet juicy berries for fresh eating and preserves later than Ben Lomond.
Grosellero negro Willoughby
$15.00 CAD
Milder sweet berries for fresh or cooked use.
Aromatic sweet tart berries on a compact upright bush.
A dash means our sources did not give that detail.
| Plant | Use | Fruit and flavour | Relative picking season | Reported disease response |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Alder | Juice, preserves, freezing | Concentrated juice | — | Tolerance to mildew and leaf spot |
| Ben Connan | — | Large berries, about 16 mm | Early to middle; about 4–5 days before Ben Lomond | Good disease resistance reported; diseases not specified |
| Ben Lomond | Fresh, jam, jelly, desserts | Robust flavour | Middle to late | — |
| Ben Nevis | — | Large, flavourful berries | Middle to late | Powdery mildew resistance reported |
| Ben Sarek | — | Sweet tart | Midsummer | — |
| Ben Tirran | Juice, preserves, processing | Medium to large, firm skinned | Late; roughly 3–7 days after Ben Lomond in the breeder's account | — |
| Black Reward | — | Strong traditional flavour | Middle of the season | — |
| Black September | Fresh, jam, jelly | Sweet and aromatic | Later than many other black currants | — |
| Blacksmith | — | Sweetness balanced with black currant acidity | Late in historical descriptions | — |
| Boskoop Giant | — | Very large and juicy | — | — |
| Champion | — | Milder flavour; sweeter when fully ripe | Late and uneven | — |
| Cotswold Cross | — | — | Middle of the season | — |
| Crusader | — | Large berries | — | Susceptible to powdery mildew |
| Eagle | Jam; fresh for those who enjoy tart fruit | Tart and strongly flavoured | — | — |
| Laxton's Giant | Fresh, juice, baking | Very large, mild and sweet | — | — |
| Mendip Cross | — | — | Middle of the season | — |
| Seabrook | — | — | Harvest not specified; late flowering is not a harvest date | — |
| Slitsa | Fresh, juice, jam, jelly, baking | Robust and tangy | Middle to late | Mildew and leaf spot resistance reported |
| Storklas | Juice, preserves, freezing | Sweetness balanced with tartness | — | Mildew and leaf spot tolerance reported |
| Swedish | Fresh, drying | Mildly sweet with slight tartness | One of the earliest in the recorded description | — |
| Tahsis | Juice, preserves, wine | Strong and tart | Midseason | Good disease resistance reported; diseases not specified |
| Tenah | — | Sweet and tart | Midseason | Reported at Polli, Estonia: fairly good resistance to mildew, leaf fall disease and gall mite |
| Tiben | — | — | Late to medium late | Mildew and leaf spot resistance reported |
| Titania | Fresh, juice, jam, preserves | Mildly sweet | — | White pine blister rust and mildew resistance reported |
| Topsy | — | Briskly acidic | Historically described as midseason | — |
| Viola | Fresh | Comparatively sweet when fully ripe; weather and picking time matter | Reported midsummer | — |
| Wellington | Fresh, jam, jelly, wine | Sweet and juicy | Later than Ben Lomond | — |
| Willoughby | Fresh, cooked | Milder and sweeter than many black currants | — | — |
| Öjebyn | Fresh, jam, jelly, juice | Aromatic and sweet tart | Middle to late | — |
What we know and do not know
Harvest dates depend on the site and season. Early or late descriptions are relative, and late flowering is not a harvest date. Reported disease resistance is not immunity or a Manitoba trial result. Where a detail is missing, our sources did not give it.