144 FRUIT RECIPES 



matter-of-fact present. The clustered, unopened buds of 

 the flowers, and sometimes the unripe berries, were in 

 olden days pickled to serve in the fashion of capers and a 

 syrup or "rob" of the berries was considered excellent 

 as a laxative, diuretic and cough medicine for children. 

 Cooked, the young shoots seem to have none of the purga- 

 tive qualities of the immature leaf-buds and the fruit un- 

 cooked is eaten in quantity wjth relish by Indians of west- 

 ern America although to whites its peculiar flavour makes 

 it seem lacking until cooked with some form of spice or 

 the acid of other fruit, 



CURRANTS AND GOOSEBERRIES 



The dried currants of commerce, so favourite an in- 

 gredient in cakes, puddings, and other dishes, are not re- 

 lated to the garden currant (although once in a while the 

 latter is also dried for domestic purposes) , being in reality 

 a kind of raisin or grape {PassUlw minores) raised and dried 

 in the Levant and exported from there in large quantities, 

 as Corinthian raisins or Zante currants (see Currants 

 under Grapes). Curtants proper belong to the genus 

 RibeSj of the GrossulariacecB, these being the spine- 

 less, twin-relative of the spiny gooseberry. Rihes is sup- 

 posed to be an Arabic name and, as a inatter of fact, the cur- 

 rant grows wild in Asia, Europe, and parts of America. 

 The name "currant" is, in Australia, applied to other 

 (native) berries of that continent as well as to the culti- 

 vated, garden currants introduced froin England. 



There are red, white, black, and yellow garden currants, 

 variously valued, the red considered best for most wines, 

 shrubs or vinegars, and tart jellies; the white for simple 

 dessert fruit, uncooked, and the black for medicinal de- 

 coctions, although the black currant is also much used in 

 preserves, vinegars, etc., and in France a certain liqueur, 



