Dried Currants -- what the heck are they?

[liuzhou]

16 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

the theory cooks in UK would only refer to the zante as a "currant" appears to be busted..

 

I don't think so. In the UK, the word currant on its own, without qualification, always means the dried grape. The word is as common as 'banana'. No great mystery.

 

When qualified with black or red or whatever, it is immediately recognisable as a berry fruit. Also blackcurrant or redcurrant is usually given as one word.

 

That said, I've never heard of 'dried currants' either. I have heard of 'dried blackcurrants'. One of my local stores has them here in China.

Edited March 15, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[JohnT]

13 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

I don't think so. In the UK, the word currant on its own, without qualification, always means the dried grape. The word is as common as 'banana'. No great mystery.

 

When qualified with black or red or whatever, it is immediately recognisable as a berry fruit. Also blackcurrant or redcurrant is usually given as one word.

 

That said, I've never heard of 'dried currants' either. I have heard of 'dried blackcurrants'. One of my local stores has them here in China.

Perfectly correct! Thank you Iiuzhou.

 

[blue_dolphin]

8 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Thank you for starting this thread. I don't think it was silly at all. I learned a lot here

 

Ditto what TFTC said.  I thought it was entirely fair to ask for confirmation about an ingredient called for in the US version of a cookbook written by a chef who grew up in Jerusalem, trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London and owns restaurants in the UK that feature flavors of the Middle East and beyond.  Especially since that word can be used correctly in the US to refer to more than one food.

 

What did I learn?  I had no idea that the US banned farming of currants in 1911 due to concern about the role of blackcurrant plants in spreading white pine disease and the impact of that disease on the logging industry.   Apparently, blackcurrants were popular in the US prior to that time.  The ban is still in place in several states but has been overturned in others and currant growing is returning in some areas.  The owner of this operation was responsible for overturning the ban in New York State is growing them there.  I am curious to try some and see what they are like.