FLOWERING CURRANT / SPRING / SUMMER / EDIBLE
COMMON NAMES
Flowering Currant
BOTANICAL NAME
Ribes sanguineum
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Root – Not of interest.
Stems/Bark – The bark is dark brown to grey with pale brown lenticels.
Leaves – It has palmately lobed leaves that give off a sweet herbal aroma when crushed.
Flowers – The flowers are ‘dangling’ racemes that almost look like grapes before they open. When opened the flowers are pink to red with a similar smell to the leaves.
Seeds/Fruit – The berries darken to a purple/red colour.
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom – Plantae
Order – Saxifragales
Family – Grossulariaceae
Genus – Ribes
KNOWN HAZARDS
None known.
COULD BE CONFUSED WITH
Other members of the rubes family, for example blackcurrant but these are also edible.
RANGE AND DISTRIBUTION
A native to North America it has naturalized in the UK and can be found almost everywhere.
HABITAT
Normally found in parks and gardens, but also in hedgerows and waste ground where it has escaped.
EDIBLE USES
The flowers have a delicious floral flavour, they can be added to salads or desserts. They can be used to make a cordial or syrup by simply infusing them in a sugar syrup and gently heating. They are amazing infused in alcohol for example gin to make a lovely addition to your drinks cabinet.
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