Name: Red currant – red currant
Red currant (Ribes rubrum); red currants; Saxifragaceae family; red currant
Red currant is one of the most common berry bushes in gardens and homesteads. Numerous varieties bred by breeders testify to its popularity among gardeners. The starting form for selection was wild currant, which grows in the forests of the European part of Russia, the Carpathians and the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, mostly in river valleys and in river thickets. Currants with red berries also grow in Western and Eastern Siberia, but botanists classify them as other species.
Usually, the height of a red currant bush is 1.5-2 m. The branches are upright, not drooping. The bark on them is yellow-brown. The leaves of the plant are 3-5-lobed, serrated from the edges, pubescent below, not fragrant, unlike black currant. The flowers are mostly greenish, collected in rare inflorescences-tassels, bloom in April-May. The fruit is a berry with a large number of seeds. Bushes are usually propagated by cuttings. Red currant at the time of full ripeness of the fruits (end of July-August) is very good, and in some varieties the berries do not fall until frost.
The fruits of the plant contain sugars, organic acids, vitamin C (up to 250 mg%), B vitamins, as well as PP (nicotinic acid), provitamin A (carotene), pectin substances and mineral salts.
Currant berries are used in traditional medicine for the preparation of syrups, syrups, jelly, which are recommended to increase appetite, as an antipyretic, antipyretic, diuretic and anti-scurvy agent. Fruits are useful for liver diseases, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract and bleeding. They are also taken for anemia and as a tonic. Infusion of dried berries is recommended for chronic constipation and urolithiasis. Patients with peptic ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum, as well as gastritis with increased acidity, should not eat fresh fruits of the plant in large quantities.
Jams, juices, jellies, jams, fillings for pies, syrups, liqueurs and wines are made from red currant berries. Jelly and marmalade are especially tasty. They are thick in consistency due to the high content of pectin substances in the fruits.
Red currant is an early honeydew, in addition to bees, it is visited by other pollinating insects. The honey productivity of the plant is lower than that of black currant.