SC - Re: currants

[Christina van Tets]

Hello the List!

Akim Yaroslavich explained:

>What are marked as "currants" like
>"Zante" currants by Sun Maid are not currants at all.  These
>raisins are made from a very tiny varietal of black grapes originally
>grown in the vicinity of Corinth, or "Corinth grapes".  Botanically
>genuine currants come in white, red or black but you can not
>make raisins from them.  They have too high a water to flesh
>ratio and are primarily seen only as a jelly product and only rarely
>fresh.

Ooh, and wine...  Fresh they're lovely, especially in summer pudding.

  To my knowledge, these Corinth grapes are what have
>been used throughout the medieval and Renaissance period
>in recipes calling for "currants".  ((snip))
>To clear up the confusion
>in nomenclature, 17th and 18th century cookbooks called currants
>....currants and Corinth "currants"...."raisins of the sun".

Then again, isn't Zante an island fairly close to Corinth, or has my brain 
gone wandering again?

Cairistiona
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