Many Americans have actually never tasted blackcurrants.
Anita Sønsteby calls them a health product. She is a researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO).
The berries are in fact very healthy and are used in everything from jam and cider to toddy, jelly, and syrup.
But why have so many Americans missed out on these tasty and healthy berries?
A favourite among fruit farmers
Annonse
Blackcurrants were brought to the USA by British immigrants in the 1600s, and over time, they became a favourite among American fruit farmers, according to a previous study in the American journal HortScience.
They were especially popular in the state of New York, where farmers grew them right up until the early 1900s.
Then everything changed.
Big business
A harmful fungus began attacking pine forests in the USA. It produced yellowish, elongated lumps on the trunk.
These were trees that were very important to the American timber industry, so something had to be done.
"In the USA, these pine trees were big business," says Sønsteby.
Eventually, they found out that berry bushes in the Ribes genus, such as blackcurrants, redcurrants, and gooseberries, were carriers of the fungus. The berries were blamed, and the fungus was called white pine blister rust.
The authorities acted quickly and banned all cultivation, transport, and sale of blackcurrants in 1911. They systematically destroyed existing blackcurrant plants nationwide through chemical spraying.
Never an issue in Norway
The trees most at risk were Eastern white pines (Pinus strobus), a North American species in the pine family.
The problem was that the fungus did not spread directly from pine to pine, but through an intermediate host.
It first had to infect another species before returning to the pine needles and spreading deeper into the bark.
"White pine blister rust has a rather complicated life cycle," says Sønsteby.
Annonse
Anita Sønsteby is a researcher at NIbio.(Photo: Jon Schärer)
The American authorities believed that the only way to save America's pine trees was to eliminate these intermediate hosts – in this case, blackcurrant bushes.
"In Norway, we don't grow these pine species, so it's never been an issue here," she says.
Few Americans have tasted them
The ban in the USA was lifted in the 1960s.
You might therefore expect that Americans today are well acquainted with the taste of blackcurrants in jams, sauces, syrups, fruit drinks, and purple sweets.
But according to Professor Marvin Pritts at Cornell University, the vast majority of Americans have never eaten a blackcurrant.
"Probably less than 0.1 per cent," he told Business Insider in 2016.
In the state of New York, it only became legal to grow blackcurrants again in 2003, according to Cornell University.
There are still some states that have restrictions on blackcurrant cultivation.
"We should eat more blackcurrants"
"Blackcurrants are a health product, and they can be grown throughout all of Norway," Anita Sønsteby tells Science Norway. "We should definitely make better and greater use of this resource."
Stein Joar Hegland agrees. He is a professor and ecologist at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.
"Yes, we should eat more blackcurrants. They're both healthy and tasty," he says.
The positive health effects
Blackcurrants are rich in vitamin C and anthocyanins. Both have been shown to have positive health effects, according to Kjersti Aaby at the research institute Nofima.
"Many studies have shown that they help reduce the risk of lifestyle-related illnesses, especially cardiovascular diseases. Other benefits include better memory and faster recovery," Aaby says in this article on forskning.no (link in Norwegian).
In a new research project at NIBIO, Sønsteby and her colleagues are testing varieties suited for all of Norway and exploring new ideas for uses and products.
They hope to produce blackcurrants people will enjoy eating fresh, just like we do with strawberries and raspberries.
