In the Market: Red Currants

Chocolate and Zucchini's Clotilde on red currants here.

I am in Paris for the summer and the best thing here is....red currant ice cream!

with currants, apricots, black and red plums, green, red and purple grapes some eggwhite and sugar you can make a fruit plate that looks like a carravaggio.

take groseilles, framboises, fraises des bois, cassis, mûres, myrtilles and put them in a gratin dish spread them with creme anglaise and top with coarse sugar. run it under the broiler and you have a gratin des fruits rouges.

Couscous! Nothing is better in couscous than dried currants, or dried cranberries or soemthing like that... makes it SO much better! throw in turkey sausage, mushrooms, onions and celery too, and mmm...

Mmmm...Lindeman's cassis lambic beer. I'm headed to the Belgian Beer Bar. ASAP!

From about.com:

Although there is a gooseberry relative known as the currant, the dried currant raisin is actually made from Black Corinth grape called Zante. They are tiny, seedless, and very sweet but do bear a resemblance to the currant berry. The name confusion comes not only from the currant raisin's similar appearance to the currant berry, but also due to the similarity of the sounds of the fruit names, ie., currant sounds like Corinth, the variety of grape. Tiny dried currants are extremely sweet and aromatic.

ummm, a dried grape is a raisin.

In France, where I spent summers as a child, my french relatives would break off a branch of currants and dip in a bowl of sugar. They are very tart and hard to eat otherwise.

It was delicious!

Dogfish Head Brewery put this out.

It is really something. This is their description:

Au Courant

A remarkable, strong Belgian Pale Ale brewed with French Pilsner malt and pale Belgian Candi Sugar.

Pureed currants and our house Belgian Ale strain are added to the fermenter to create a unique beer.



Brewed to bolster your bluster in the colder weather!

7.0% ABV 17.5P 25 IBU

12 ounce 4-packs

Available December 1st each year

approx. 231 calories and 24 carbs per bottle

Descriptors: Cassis, blackberry, dry, minty, herbal

Food pairing recommendations: Roasted duck, wasabi, shrimp cocktail, foie gras,

grilled fish, peppered chicken

Suggested serving glass: pint glass

a currant isn't a dried grape. it's a berry. as a kid, we used to grow them in our garden. they're awesome for jams and jellies, and currant pies (when made properly) are delicious.

So confused... a currant is a dried grape. So what's a dried currant? And while we're on the topic, and I'm not saying that we are, what's a sultana?

Wow, maybe the most worthless Gothamist post ever!