Today's dismay: currants

[kaberett]

From the department of "divided by a common language": earlier today I was Very Upset about the US use of "coffee cake", which is apparently not a cake flavoured with coffee but rather a (style of) cake eaten with coffee.

(The recipe blog intro writes itself, really; things I am already considering include some kind of poppyseed coffee cake and of course rhubarb coffee cake, which is what precipitated this particular discovery.)

This was upsetting enough by itself but Subsequent Digressions lead to the discovery that apparently in North America "currants" with no other specifiers by default means Ribes, probably blackcurrant, and not, you know, the dried grape.

... via going "hey, this EYB recipe specifies 'currants' as an ingredient for teacakes, but I've previously been informed that that means Ribes fruit not dried grapes, surely some mistake?" and getting back, approximately, "what makes you think dried grapes are relevant??? the version of the recipe in the Guardian just says 'currants'??????"

(The linking step was being Extremely Indignant about having it patiently explained to me that "coffee cake" is like "tea cake". Apparently BUT THE FRUIT SHOULD BE SOAKED IN TEA THOUGH is not a robust defence.)

Comments

[starlady]

I don't think we have blackcurrants in the States, I've only ever seen red.

P.S. Why don't you call dried grapes "raisins"? Grapes aren't currants! :-)

[mme_n_b]

We have them, and we have white ones also. You need to shop in an East European store to find them, though. They are generally just advertised as "European".

[starlady]

White currants? Amazing, I had never heard of them before.

And yes, after I posted that I was like, "Wait...I think I'm wrong." My grocery store lists several currant products, which are either undifferentiated or black currants. I feel like I've seen red currants mostly in jam or at farmer's markets.

[mme_n_b]

It's a classic Russian joke: "Seller, is this currant white or black?" "It's red." "But why is it white?" "Because it's green"

[madgastronomer]

There is A History there, though I've forgotten a lot of the details. Basically, there was a plant disease that was attacking blackcurrants, and so just when the US might have imported a bunch and made blackcurrant flavored stuff in bulk... they couldn't. Which is why Concord grape took over as The Flavor for things for so long.

And properly, those are "zante currants", a small type of dried grape, not just regular raisins.

[conuly]

Specifically, it infects currants, gooseberries... and pine trees, affecting the much more profitable Christmas tree harvest, so importation of those plants was banned for many years and still is in some states.

[madgastronomer]

Oho! Information I either did not have or had forgotten. Thank you!

[kaberett]

"Properly" here being shorthand for "in NAm English but, according to wikipedia, nowhere the fuck else" :-p

But yes, Different From Raisins! Smaller! More wrinkly! Chewier!

[madgastronomer]

Correction acknowledged. :)

[kaberett]

<3

[ludy]

In the UK rasins sultanas and currants are three different (and specific) kinds of dried grape. Which sometimes get collectively described as "dried vine fruit" in food labelling

[rugessnome]

Grapes are the original currants!

The Ribes acquired the word that originally belonged to teeny grapes from Corinth.

Also, while I haven't seen fresh blackcurrants for sale, I do have a blackcurrant bush (now two, now I found out they don't like to self-pollinate) in the states.

The problem with the Ribes being previously banned here is they are host to a white pine rust that could potentially devastate the far more important lumber industry.