Currants
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by Julie Cascio
Currants (Ribes spp.) are translucent berries clustered on a small branch just below the lobed, toothed leaves. Several currants grow in Alaska, with either red or black fruit. Habitat ranges from moist woods to open areas, along stream banks and in meadows. Berries ripen in mid- to late summer. They can be eaten raw or dried or made into jams and jellies, syrups, pies and cobblers.
American red currants (Ribes triste Pallas) are smooth, red, translucent berries found on the straggly brown branches of shrubs. Flowers are in clusters 1 to 2 inches long on old wood just below the leafy tufts. Red currants are found widely in Alaska in cool woods, swamps and subalpine ravines. They are found from the head of the Lynn Canal in Southeast Alaska east and north to Valdez, Seward, Matanuska, Copper River, Anvik, Kuskokwim River country, the Seward Peninsula and the Kobuk River area.
Trailing black currants (Ribes laxiflorum Pursh) are hairy black berries with a bluish tinge, and are found in Southeast Alaska north to Skagway and Yakutat, on the Kenai Peninsula and in central Alaska. Bristly black currants (Ribes lacustre), or swamp gooseberries, are bristly purplish-black berries with a very sour flavor. Northern black currants (Ribes hudsonianum) are smooth berries that are very sour and somewhat bitter. In addition, there are several other barely edible currants that grow in Alaska.
Nutrition and Health
Currants are a rich source of antioxidants, a group of biochemicals shown to be an important part of the human diet. The oxygen radical absorption capacity test (ORAC) shows overall antioxidant activity. Scores above 40 are considered very high. Alaska grown red currants had the following ORAC values when tested:
| Frozen Berries | 43 |
| Jelly | 28 |
| Fruit Leather | 158 |
| Juice | 20 |