🍒 Redcurrant

Redcurrants are among the most trouble-free fruits and tolerate partial shade, making them useful for a spot where little else will crop. The translucent red berries hang in jewel-like trusses and are delicious in preserves, sauces and desserts.

Bushes can be trained as cordons against a fence or wall, saving space, and suit small gardens. White currants are a similar, sweeter relative. Plants live for 20 years and rarely suffer from frost damage.

Varieties to try

Jonkheer van Tets (early, heavy-cropping)Rovada (late, long trusses)Junifer (very early)Stanza (late, dessert)White Versailles (white currant, sweet)

Plant bare-root bushes between November and March in moisture-retentive, fertile soil, in sun or partial shade. Space bushes 1.2–1.5 m apart, or cordons 30–40 cm apart against a fence or wall. Plant at the same depth as in the nursery, with the stem clear of the soil.

Use a ‘leg’ of 10–15 cm of clear stem, as this makes picking and pruning easier. Cut back the stems by half after planting to encourage a good framework. Mulch with compost and water in well. Redcurrants also grow in 30 cm pots.

Top tips

• Plant in sun or shade.
• Cut stems by half after planting.
• Train as cordons to save space.
• Mulch well.

Water in dry spells and mulch each spring with compost. Redcurrants fruit on spurs on older wood, unlike blackcurrants. In winter, prune the main branches by half of the new growth, and cut side shoots back to two buds, to create an open, goblet-shaped bush. Cordons are summer-pruned in July.

Net the bushes before the fruit starts to colour, because birds adore them. Currant blister aphid, which makes red blisters on the leaves, and sawfly caterpillars, which strip the leaves in spring, are the main pests; hand-pick the caterpillars.

Top tips

• Prune to open, spurred branches in winter.
• Net before the berries colour.
• Look for sawfly caterpillars in spring.
• Mulch each year.

Watch out for

Currant sawflyCurrant blister aphidBirdsCoral spot fungus on dead wood

Pick whole trusses in July and August when the berries are fully red and glossy, using scissors or by pulling the truss off the stem. Fruits will hang on the bush for weeks if netted, which extends the season. Pick when dry.

Handle trusses gently, as the berries are fragile, and hold the stalk, not the berries. Berries in the shade stay on the bush longer and keep the flavour. White varieties are sweeter and better eaten fresh.

Top tips

• Pick whole trusses.
• Handle gently.
• Pick when dry.
• Net to keep fruit on the bush for longer.

Redcurrants are tart, so they are best used in cooking: make jelly (the classic accompaniment for lamb and game), sauces such as Cumberland sauce, jam, coulis, tarts and summer pudding. A few fresh sprigs make a lovely decoration on desserts and cocktails.

Fresh trusses keep for up to a week in the fridge. To freeze, leave the berries on their stalks on a tray, freeze, then strip off with a fork and pack. Redcurrant jelly keeps for a year.

Top tips

• Make jelly with lamb or game.
• Freeze trusses and strip with a fork.
• Garnish desserts with fresh sprigs.
• Pair with raspberries.