Just like you heard me complain about cherries I would like to raise another important fruit issue: currants and gooseberries. Whatever has happened to them? Did they commit some horrible crime to the American people that most of them don’t even know what they are?
I happened to come across a little tiny box of some very tiny gooseberries in the grocery store the other day and since they were on sale I put them in my basket. Unfortunately, they were completely tasteless – nothing like what I was used to in the Czech Republic. You see, the Czechs grow up on currants and gooseberries. They hang over every fence and grow in almost every garden. They are easy to take care of and are also very nutritious. In fact, they are so sour at times, that one could probably overdose on vitamin C from them!
My grandma used to make the best red currant pie. Too bad I don’t know the recipe (it had a shortbread-like bottom and an egg-white crust on the top with red currants mixed in…yum!). Then there is the white currant (the least sour of all) and the black currant (having the biggest amount of vitamin C).
Although gooseberries have been grown in Europe since the 12th century (especially in England), the Czechs had a late start: this fuzzy fruit began appearing in people’s gardens as late as in the 19th century. But we sure made up for it later!
To get you in the true gooseberry/currant mode I found an easy Czech summer recipe:
Gooseberry and currant garden sundae (2 servings)
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Ingredients:
* handful of gooseberries and currants
* 2 cups of white yogurt
* 1 cup of mascarpone (or cream-cheese)
* 2 packages of vanilla powder (or 2 Tsp of vanilla extract)
* 2 Tbs sugar
* handful of waffles (piskoty) or other tea biscuits
Method:
1. Cut gooseberries in half
2. Mix yogurt,vanilla, sugar together; slowly mix in mascarpone, little by little, do not use an electrical mixer since the mixture would curdle
3. Use a nice glass to pile all of the ingredients in: first the waffles, layer the fruit on top and push it down a bit. Then the cream mixture.
4. Let it sit in the fridge for about an hour before you eat it.
CZ: Jak jsem si nedavno stezovala o tresnich tak ted budu fnukat kvuli rybizu a angrestu. Vsimli jste si, ze vetsina Americanu ani nevi, co jsou zac? Muj manzel ochutnal angrest pred par dny poprve! Co jim to ovoce udelalo, ze ma tak ‘spatnou’ povest?
V Evrope se angrest pestoval jiz ve 12. stoleti a to zejmena v klasternich zahradach. Bezneji se zacal pestovat az v 16. stoleti a to zejmena ve Francii a v Rusku. U Anglicanu ziskal takovou popularitu, ze se zakladaly angrestove spolky s vice nez 100 odrudami! V Cechach pochazi prvni zminka o jeho pestovani az z konce 18. stoleti. Ovsem od te doby si jeho dlohodobou nepritomnost – spolu s angrestem – nahradili. Jak vite, tyto kere rostou snad v kazde ceske zahrade a vykukuji z poza kazdeho plotu. Ja nevim jak vy, ale ja jsem se v detsvi pravdepodobne musela parkrat predavkovat vitaminem C (a taky jsem si tou jejich kyselinou spalila jazyk), protoze jsem toho ovoce snedla nesnesitelne moc.
Rybiz ma dokonce i zajimavesi hisorii. Pry rostl puvodne plane v mirnem subtropickem pasmu (cervena odruda). Cerny rybiz pochazi za Azie a byl nejdrive pouzivan jako leciva rostlina.
Moje babicka delala z rybizu ten nejlepsi zakusek. Bohuzel neznam recept, ale vy mi s tim mozna budete moci pomoct. Mel takovou vybornou buchtovou spodni cast a na ni byl navrsen sladky bilek smichany s rybizem….neznate to nekdo?
Ceske Noviny nabizeji velmi jednoduchy a zdravy recept tzv. Zahradniho Poharu, jehoz hlavni naplni jsou prave tyto dva ovocne druhy. Dobrou chut!
Suroviny: rybíz a angrešt, 2 x bílý jogurt, 250 g mascarpone, 2 balíčky vanilkového cukru, cukrářské piškoty nebo jiné křupavé sušenky
Příprava: Ovoce očistíme a omyjeme. Angrešt nakrájíme na poloviny. V misce smícháme jogurt s cukrem a pomalu do něj vidličkou vmícháme mascarpone. Pozor! Mascarpone se nikdy nešlehá, protože by se “srazilo”. Proto pracujte
raději pomaleji a po menších dávkách. Do připravených pohárů dejte nalámané cukrářské piškoty, stačí 2 ks na pohár. Na piškoty navršte ovoce a opatrně je na piškoty přimáčkněte, aby trochu pustilo šťávu.Poslední vrstvou je krém. Pohár dejte vychladit alespoň na hodinu do lednice.
Každý si sám před konzumací pohár promíchá. Kombinace pikantního ovoce, sladkého hladkého krému a křupavých piškotů je skvělá.
Source: http://magazin.ceskenoviny.cz/vareni/zpravy/angrest-rybiz/503499
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My favorite was red or black current syrup, my grandparents would make the syrup from the berries. Then they would thicken it with sugar, then you would put some in the bottom of a glass and add water. Instant Kool-aid. If you dont pick goose berries at the right time they are pucker face sour which found out many times.
No to je fakt, ani muj muz nevedel, co je to currant a rikal tomu “grapes”, kdyz jsem mu to ukazala v Cesku v zahrade. V Cesku mame spoustu keriku a kazde leto bylo sbirani rybizu ritual, protoze se z toho delal sirup a marmelada. Tu koneckoncu dela muj tatka doted. Je fakt, ze i treba merunky tu jsou celkem exoticke ovoce a v obchode koupene jsou vetsinou bez chuti a vune.
Nekteri Americane znaji rybiz i angrest- u nas ve farmarskem obchode tu maji na prodej rybizovou marmeladu. Angrest tu bezne roste plane v parcich, stejne tak maliny, ostruziny, vino a pod… – staci se jenom divat okolo sebe :o) Jinak ano- pestovani rybizu a angrestu je velice jednoduche a nenarocne na misto a rodi prakticky ihned – kericky se daji objednat pres internet. Merunky, tresne, broskve… chutnaji naprosto bajecne pokud si je koupite primo od farmare, na trzisti a nebo si je zajedete sami natrhat. Tady je odkaz na stranku, pres kterou si muzete najit mistni farmy, trziste a pod. : http://www.localharvest.org/ Od jara do podzimu kupuju prakticky vsechno jenom z mistnich zdroju, neco mame na zahrade… – a vsechno chutna presne tak jak ma :o)))
Nevim, kde se mi tam vzali smajlici s otevrenou pusou…
United States
Blackcurrants were once popular in the United States as well, but became rare in the 20th century after currant farming was banned in the early 1900s, when blackcurrants, as a vector of white pine blister rust, were considered a threat to the U.S. logging industry.[4] The federal ban on growing currants was shifted to jurisdiction of individual states in 1966, and was lifted in New York State in 2003 through the efforts of horticulturist Greg Quinn. As a result, currant growing is making a comeback in New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Oregon.[5][6] However, several statewide bans still exist including Maine[7] and New Hampshire.[8]
Since the American federal ban ceased currant production nationally for nearly a century, the fruit remains largely unknown in the United States, and has yet to regain its previous popularity to levels enjoyed in Europe or New Zealand. Owing to its unique flavor and richness in polyphenols, dietary fiber and essential nutrients, awareness and popularity of blackcurrant is once again growing, with a number of consumer products entering the market.
http://www.allaboutstuff.com/Garden_Tips/Gooseberries.asp
I read that both currants and gooseberries were banned for years.
V obchode “Ikea” maji marmeladu z angrestu.
Ha mystery solved!
No to je opravdu zajimave, co jsi nasla na tom webu! To by me ani ve snu nenapadlo! Ted to vsechno dela smysl…
I kdyz si myslim, ze pro Americany je to ovoce stejne az moc trpke. My uz jsme z detstvi ‘brainwashed’, takze to nasim chutovym bunkam nevadi :))
To Jana V: ‘rybizova ovocna stava’ is the best! And so healthy….
I say let’s start striking in front the White House for more gooseberries and currants!!
I like to make a recipe of pork roast with a lovely sauce made from red currant jam, walnuts, and a bit of curry. Simply heaven!
Yum! That sounds delicious!!! I wonder if I could substitute for it with like a cranberry sauce since the US stores are kind of short on red currant jam…
Ikea also has black currant jam. I learned about the “Currant Ban” few years ago when I tried to find them in my local nursery and grow currents in my garden. They are extremely good for you especially the black ones. The owner explained to me why it will be most likely impossible for me to find the little bushes anywhere in California. Also Costco sells dry black currants they are pretty good.
I recently bought a jam made in Switzerland that has red currants in it. It reminds me a lot of the jam my grandmother used to make. My parents also recently planted some currant bushes.
Ja jsem nasla oba black currant dzem a gooseberry dzem v obchod “World Market” – tam jsou nedrahy 🙂
I have exactly the same problem in London! Gooseberries and black and red currants probably don’t exist. Oh well, at least I can bring my Mum’s jam every now and then; missing the fresh ones though.
Btw just came across this website, really cool!
Andrea, I can’t believe you have the same problem in London too! I wonder if they had to ban those plans because of some disease too?? When I did a research on Wikipedia it says that currants (or gooseberries) used to be the most common in England….weird. Hey maybe your mom could send you some since it’s not as far from the Czech as it is the US of A.
Ahoj Marenko, diky za dobry tip! Myslim ze ve World marketu si muzes objednat veci i on-line ale nejsem si jista….Zajimalo by me, jestli by tyhle dva druhy ovoce rostly i v Jizni Kalifornii…asi jo, ze jo? Ted jen sehnat rostlinky/zrnicka.
The reason why they were tasteless is b/c most farm raised items are grown in water with chemicals, rather than soil. Be sure to buy 100% organic – at Wholefoods or at your local farm and you will taste them. It’s the same with flowers, they don’t smell when they’re grown in water….
smutny ;(
I live in Devon, England and I was really surprised you rarely can see gooseberries here…..as lot of yoghurts and deserts have them in….. sometimes I buy them(and redcurrants too) in local fruit/veg store. But they don’t taste like those from dad’s garden.
Myslel jsem si, že jsme dva samostatné státy a tak nechápu proč se na stránce české speciality objeví návod na slovenská jídla. Na odkaze cestování po čechách se mi objeví Vysoké Tatry. Chtěl jsem svým kolegům z USA ukázat něco od nás a ve finále jsem strávil většinu času vysvětlováním toho, že už s naším východním bratrem nemáme společného nic než hranici a 120 000 slovenských přistěhovalců.
Ahoj Libore,
blog je urceny pro hlavne pro Cechy ale take pro Slovaky. Je nas tu v zahranici malo, tak bychom meli drzet pohromade, nemyslis? Navic mnoho Cechu ma predky/rodinne cleny ze Slovenska (jako napriklad ja) a tudiz jsme stale spolu jaksi propojeni.
Libor,
Prvni i druha svetova valku zacali Serbsky nationalisti. Nebylo by uz na case aby se lidi brali za to JAKY jsou a JAK se chovaji nez za kterymi hranicemi zijou? Cesko a Sovensko preci bylo spojene dost dlouho na to ze alespon bys mohl prehlidnout kdyz jsem nekdo da chutny recept ne? Zapomen na viru, zapomen na hranice. Kazi to lidi. Kdyby sem dnes prijeli mimozemstani, rikali by jsme jen – my a oni. Bylo by ti jedno ze nejaka omacka jde ze Slovenska a Cesi ji tak moc nejedi. Ne?