CurrantC All Natural Black Currant Nectar is a relatively new juice product made by The Currant Company that has my taste buds jumping with glee. I tried it for the first time a few days ago and was really impressed. This intensely flavored juice is so full of taste that it is rightly called a nectar. As a matter of fact the term Nectar of the Gods comes immediately to mind when I drink this juice. The fresh flavor of black currants is so strong, tart and tangy, with just the right sweetness, that it really makes you want to jump up and start dancing. This has become my new favorite juice for those times when I want a treat and a quick pick me up. If you want to know where you can buy CurrantC click here.

Did you know that for almost 100 hundred years it was illegal to grow Black Currants here in the US? In the early 1900's it was found that a plant disease called White Pine Blister Rust was passed back and forth between Black Currants and White Pine trees, and so in 1911 growing currants was banned. The federal ban was shifted to individual states in 1966. Finally in 2003, after much lobbying in NY State the ban was lifted here after it was shown that disease resistant black currants could be planted.

In the NY Hudson Valley Region there are now several farms growing black currants. It is also being grown in other parts of New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and on the West Coast in Oregon. There are still several states where the ban is in effect including Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Black Currants are full of vitamins and antioxidants and are very healthy for you. From the CurrantC website "Until now, blueberries have long been regarded as the "king of antioxidants." Research has shown that the black currant has a much higher source of antioxidants than the blueberry and has three times the amount of Vitamin C found in oranges. Black currants also contain significant amounts of vitamin B6, vitamin E, potassium, copper and soluble fiber. They are rich in phytochemicals called anthocyanins which are known for their outstanding anti-inflammatory benefits. Anthocyanins are the plant pigments that give black currants their dark color - the darker the fruit, the higher the amount of anthocyanin and the more antioxidant benefits available." Interestingly enough they also may help thwart Alzheimer's disease. Also I read on Wikipedia that "studies have also shown concentrated blackcurrant to be an effective Monoamine oxidase inhibitor (Bormann, et al. 1991.) Fifty grams of 5.5X concentrate was found to inhibit 92% of the Monoamine oxidase enzymes. Blackcurrant seed oil is a rich source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a very rare essential fatty acid."

Many people (including myself until I did some research) think currants are a type of grape, but they are actually a small berry around one cm. in diameter that grow on shrubs 1-3 meters / 3-6 ft. in height. If you are interested in growing black currants you can buy plants from Walnut Grove Farms, the only dedicated currant nursery in the country. They are easy to grow and produce great fruit that you can make into jams or juice yourself. If you want the fruit right away to make some preserves or an amazing tart or pie you can purchase currants directly from The Currant Company