White Currant Blanka Bio - Ribes rubrum

The Blanka Bio currant (Ribes rubrum), derived from organic agriculture, is a variety that produces clusters of white berries, slightly golden, and not red. These fruits have a sweet and fragrant flavour, they are juicy and very pleasant in the mouth. The plant is self-fertile, vigorous, and productive. It is easy to cultivate in non-scorching sunlight, in well-drained, even poor soil. Its long branches should be trained on a support. Planting is done from October to March for a harvest around July.

The redcurrant, also known as Ribes rubrum, belongs to the Grossulariaceae family, like the Gooseberry bush. It is a plant that has been cultivated for a long time and grows spontaneously in many temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, from Europe to Siberia, and even to Manchuria. The redcurrant is a bushy shrub, non-thorny, with a tufted habit of slightly stiff, sparsely branched stems, with soft wood and abundant pith. This very hardy bush will reach about 1.50m (5ft) in all directions. The deciduous foliage falls in autumn. It is composed of palmate, lobed, and aromatic leaves, medium green in colour.

Flowering occurs in spring, in the form of clusters of small inconspicuous greenish to brownish flowers, intensely visited by bees. Fruiting mainly occurs on one- and two-year-old branches. The bush then becomes covered with numerous clusters of small round and translucent berries, containing small seeds. Harvesting takes place as the fruits ripen. The Blanka variety produces long clusters of white fruits, to be picked from early July. The currants have an almost white, juicy, and fragrant flesh. Whether white or red, redcurrants are low in calories and rich in minerals and trace elements as well as potassium, calcium, and phosphorus. They are also a good source of vitamin C and fibre.

Use fresh currants in jelly or pastries, for tart fillings or for making sorbets. In the garden this bush, modest for much of the year, becomes attractive when it is laden with its long clusters that play with the summer light. The pleasure is threefold: visually attractive and tasty, but also fragrant when its warm foliage perfumes the garden. It pairs well with red gooseberry varieties, gooseberry bushes, as well as shrubs that offer beautiful (non-edible) fruiting, such as Leycesteria formosa, callicarpas, Nandina domestica and its varieties, Japanese quinces, Cotoneaster microphyllus, St. John's wort Magical Beauty, symphorines... For small gardens or to save space, it is clever to train this currant bush against a wall or grow it as a standard. Note that the currant can perfectly well be included in a terrace orchard, as it behaves quite well in large pots with a depth of about forty centimeters, while being careful not to water it with overly chalky water.