Black Currant Ribes nigrum ‘Consort’

Grow your own super-fruit hedge. Consort currant has improved disease resistance and is loaded with delicious medium sized black currants. Can be eaten fresh, made into wine or cordials, used in jam, sauces, cooking and baking. It can be grown in full sun, but also tolerates part shade making it an extremely versatile landscape shrub. Makes a great fruiting hedge at 6’ tall and 4’ wide. Self-fertile. Zone 4-9.

Other ways to use your currant bushes: The essence of the currant can be found in the edible leaves. You can use black currant, red currant and white currant leaves steeped as an infusion to make a very tasty tea with a distinct currant-like flavor. Using currant leaves in tea is widespread in Eastern Europe and Sweden. Not only are the steeped leaves tasty, they contain large amounts of polyphenols, anthocyanins and antioxidants. Young leaves are used in the Finnish summer drink known as ‘Louhisaari’. For food preservation…currant leaves contain tannins which help keep pickles or other fermented foods crisp. When enjoying a fresh cup of currant leaf tea, feel free to grab an organic cotton-ball. It makes a nice face toner!