White Currant Cerise Blanche - Georges Delbard

Ribes rubrum 'White Cherry' is a late variety of clustered whitecurrant bush that has the particularity of producing long clusters of white berries, slightly golden and giving fruits with a tangy and fragrant flavour. This self-fertile and moderately vigorous variety is highly productive and resistant to diseases. Easy to grow in non-burning sun, in well-drained soil, even poor soil, requiring trellising. Planting from October to March for a late July harvest.

The clustered whitecurrant, also known as Ribes rubrum, belongs to the Grossulariaceae family, like the gooseberry. 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, to Manchuria. The whitecurrant is a bushy, non-thorny shrub with a clump-like habit of slightly stiff, sparsely branched stems, with soft wood and abundant pith. This very hardy bush will reach 1.50m (5ft) in all directions. The foliage is deciduous, 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 is then covered with numerous clusters of small, round and translucent berries, containing small seeds. Harvesting takes place as the fruits ripen. The 'White Cherry' variety produces long clusters of white fruits, to be picked from late July. The currants have a white, tangy and fragrant flesh. Whether white or red, currants are low in calories, 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 sorbet making. In the garden, this bush, unassuming for much of the year, takes on its full charm when it is laden with its long clusters that play with the summer light. The pleasure is threefold, both visual and gustatory, but also olfactory when its warm foliage fills the garden with its scent. It pairs well with red currant varieties, gooseberries, as well as shrubs that offer beautiful fruiting (inedible), such as Leycesteria formosa, beautyberries, Nandina domestica and its varieties, Japanese quinces, small-leaved cotoneaster, St. John's wort Magical Beauty, symphorines... For small gardens or to save space, it is clever to train this clustered redcurrant against a wall or grow it as a standard. Note that the redcurrant can also be grown in a terrace orchard, as it performs well in large pots, with a depth of at least forty centimetres, while avoiding watering it with excessively hard water.