For 8 years we have had a plot with fruit bushes - mainly red and black currants. My whole family, that is me, husband Aleksander and two daughters, most like to eat fruit straight from the bush. And although there are many amateurs to eat, my Alek takes care of currants. It is he who planted, fertilizes and trims the bushes.
We got the plot in the fall and my husband prepared the soil right away: he fertilized it with manure and dug up the soil. After 2 weeks, he made patches for vegetables and our shrubs. The currants were planted 1.5 meters apart, so that they had enough space for growth and easy access to them.
We managed to pick a few handfuls of fruit in the first year after planting. However, we had to wait another year for the larger harvest, and in the third we had a real flood of fruit. It was then that my husband made special wooden borders around the bushes, as the twigs that were fruitfully fruiting were already beginning to lie on the ground. He made the supports from old slats.
At the moment our currants are 8 years old and my husband keeps them in check all the time. Cuts old, diseased or broken shoots from them. He also does it to make the fruit bigger.
My husband is the main landlord on the plot, but I must admit that he is also great in the kitchen. It is he who makes several dozen bottles of fruit juice every year. The currants are the tastiest. Separately from red and separately from black, because it is a pity to mix flavors and colors.
To make currant juice, just wash the fruit, change it and put it with the tails into the juicer. Then you need to add sugar and boil it.Delicious and, most importantly, very clear juices come out. If you want to make jam from the same currants, peel the tails before throwing them into the juicer. When the juice is ready, use the pulp left in the juicer. Sometimes we also make marmalade by frying the fruit with sugar in a saucepan. We also bake cakes with fresh currants. My plan for this year is tarts because I've never done them before. I just need to find an interesting recipe.
Krystyna Laskowska
