Why most Americans have never had these berries

Why did they take my sweet, sweet berries? I had to find out.

I love you black currants. I will always love you.

Some sources:
Plant Quarantine Act:

White Pine Blister Rust book:

Anti-currant propaganda (OK, it’s legit, fine):

Department of Ag letter:

Funny NYT article:

Some of the newsreels:

[Magyk]

In case you weren't aware, most of the black sweets (candies) in the UK are actually blackcurrant flavoured, instead of grape like they are in the US

[StaticPA]

We had several bushes of these in our yard growing up, I never realised these these would be considered 'exotic' in the USA. Great video!

[aeiro]

I just found this channel and, as a deaf person, I'm greatly appreciative that you caption all the videos! Just subscribed :)

[JohnRussell]

I served in Mongolia with the Peace Corps, where currants, along with a whole range of other unfamiliar berries, rule the day. Black currants were my favorite, and not being able to find them upon returning to the States has been the greatest tragedy of my adult life. Thanks for this video! Let me know if you have any good currant sources that ship to New Mexico!

[mayonaissse]

I'm from Malaysia and Ribena used to be a staple for us. I grew up drinking a glass of warm Ribena every day after school. At birthday parties the moms would make iced Ribena for the kids. Even now among those of us who grew up in the 80-90's we use the term 'kanak-kanak Ribena' (Ribena kids) to describe happy-go-lucky, blissfully naive kids lmao.

[bluelotusnanebi]

I grew up in Ukraine, had no idea this berry is so rare in the US! It’s very very common here, and a lot of people are impartial to it as it has quite an acidic / sour taste, but that’s just a matter of preference. We had quite a few bushes in the garden and I never liked those berries as a kid 🙃

[LinusBoman]

Greetings from the alternative berryverse of Sweden! 2 fun facts: 1) first thing we we were given to eat or drink at hospital when my wife gave birth, a pitcher of ice water with a cup of black current cordial. 2) while technically a subset of fruits, berries are so varied and plentiful here (many are untranslatable since they don't exist in the Anglophone world) they are usually called out specifically and separately from other fruits by nutritional guides. As in, "don't forget to eat fruits, berries and vegetables". 🫐

[heck.]

Growing up in the US to British parents, my mom would always complain about the lack of availability when she wanted black currants for cooking or jam making (especially larger amounts), although luckily I think they have become more popular / widespread over the past few years. Never knew they were banned, but explains a lot! Thanks for the informative video :)

[Green.Country.Agroforestry]

Interesting note: In the early 1900s the logging industry was replacing clear cuts with a LOT (almost exclusively) of pine trees. The lack of diversity created opportunities for disease - nature's way of correcting an imbalance. Nature is still doing her thing - in Oregon's Malheur forest, for example, an infestation of honey fungus measuring MILES across is steadily munching its way through the pine monoculture that the logging industry planted.

[ajgiza]

Wow, as a Polish person I always wondered why there were no porzeczki in the US. I could only find them imported to the Polish and Russian stores.

[МонікаОрел]

I live in europe and my family has always had quite a few black currant bushes in the back yard and at least one gooseberry bush. Same goes for my grandparents. Like black currant and gooseberry bushes are a must alongside raspberry bushes where I’m from. I was really baffled to hear that those berries are pretty much non-existent in the US. Btw I, personally, really dont like black currant

[markm.]

Started gardening at a young age in the PNW & one day ended up meeting a sweet, sweet older Russian lady who gave me several of her back currant trimmings to try and plant. Never realized how much I lucked out by personally being able to grow up alongside those shrubs & eat from that effort. Ended up moving out & one day when visiting my parents, I found out my mother had pulled up the bushes. Glad to at least have had my childhood years spent eating those delicious berries!

[marleeokeefe]

I spent some time living and working in Ukraine. I first encountered black currant while my host family and I went back and fourth on trying to translate the Ukrainian word for the berry into English. Google translate kept coming up with “black currant” and I thought it must be incorrect since I had no idea what that was. Soon enough, I was educated on the berry’s existence and spend my entire time in Ukraine consuming black currant everything. I’m stuck searching for the berry everywhere I go like the rest of the black current enlightened US citizens.

[queeny]

American here! I first heard of blackcurrant when I first started looking into the city I'm currently studying in: Dijon, France. Here, the local specialty drink is called kir, and it's a sweet, refreshing mix of white wine and crème de cassis (blackcurrant cream)! I plan on shipping a bottle of crème de cassis back to the US so I can make my American friends try this wonderful drink :)

[BlueCubeSociety]

German here; we literally have black, white and red currants growing in our garden (usually so much every year, that our family freezes a whole lot of them to make jam later), so it's kinda interesting that they aren't that common in the US

[Abiodun]

I never thought of blackcurrants as exotic, It didn't even cross my mind that these were a novelty thing in the US, given that I get to enjoy freshly made blackcurrant juice from my grandma's garden every summer. Here in Finland, they're easy to grow and many people with gardens have them and other berry bushes. 😃🇫🇮

[johncrwarner]

Being brought up in Britain in the 1960s
Ribena was the most desired cordial
for drinks
and when I first had an "american style no bake cheesecake"
it came with a blackcurrant fruit topping
My parents grew blackcurrants and gooseberries
in the back garden and made jam regularly
until my father became too old to tend the plants.
So blackcurrants were part of everyday life for me.

Here in Germany
where I now live
schwarze Johannisbeeren
are also a staple fruit
in frozen mixed berries
in cordial form
and on cakes.

So when I had a cold
I automatically reached for the blackcurrant cordial
made with hot water
Not sure it is very healthy
but it is reassuring to me.

[BOABModels]

Blackcurrant is the absolute best flavour of sweets and squash which is what Brits call the diluted fruit juice drink like the Ribena Phil drinks here.
Interestingly, there is also a squash called Vimto which is a combination of blackcurrant and grape flavour. Some people love it but I'm not a fan - I think it tastes like an anagram of its name.

[Manar]

You’ll find black currant is very common in New York, it’s a favorite flavor of Eastern Europeans, and you’ll often find juice or other black currant products because of our high concentration

[filippelant]

Such an interesting story for us living in Europe. It makes me wonder, what are the other things we consider common but that are not in the US and vice versa.

The only thing I was missing in your video is a deeper insight in the reasons, why this is a problem in America and nobody abroad has ever heard of it... I mean maybe interview some botanist (kinda Vox-like approach I guess)?

I'm not a one, but I did study biology for teaching purposes and therefore I know a thing or two. This phenomenon is actually quite common in the world of parasitic fungi. Switching between hosts (different species of plants) is exactly what rusts (group of fungi) do during their life-cycle. We in Europe - or at least in the Czech republic - have similar problem with a rust switching between pear-tree and juniperus causing the pear to die. But it definitely isn't such a big deal as you have or had with white pine.

One last "fun fact" - we don't have a problem with black currant here, we have a problem with white pine. It's not native to Europe and it is becoming sort of an invasive species, cause it has no natural enemy, it kills bushes and little trees on the forrest floor and it spreads easily. We started to eradicate white pine at least in the Natural Parks. And all of that only because some aristocrats in the 19th century thought that this tree looks good and that it would be a cool idea to have this thing standing in front of the castle :)