red currant

plural red currants · alternative redcurrant · alternative red-currant

1. A deciduous shrub, Ribes rubrum, native to western Europe; any of certain cultivars of the shrub.

   Blackcurrants and redcurrants, gooseberries, raspberries and rhubarb grow amongst viburnums, hollyhocks, sweet williams, forsythia, and a medlar.

   1989, Mirabel Osler, A Gentle Plea for Chaos, published 2011, page 173

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   And a hint of still waters, a stream, a brook, a rivulet, meandering with flashes of brilliance through the lush dense greenery, among shadowy plants that might have been blackberries or redcurrants, although what redcurrants and blackberries might be Yoel had not the faintest notion, and even the names themselves he only knew from books.

   1989, Amos Oz, To Know A Woman, page 109

   Cultivated redcurrants are most closely related to Ribes rubrum, which like blackcurrants grow in northern Europe and northern Asia, although several other species have had a hand in the development of particular varieties; whitecurrants, for their part, are simply redcurrants with albino genes. Despite their similarities, the histories of blackcurrants and redcurrants in Britain are surprisingly distinct.

   2009, Christopher Stocks, Forgotten Fruits: The stories behind Britain's traditional fruit and vegetables, page 93

2. The bright red translucent edible berry of this plant.

   1995, Elizabeth Howard, Casting Off, Cazalet Chronicles, Book 4, 2006, unnumbered page, Her mouth was pale red and translucent, like the skin of a redcurrant.

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   She did not seem too happy to see us at first, but relaxed after she had shown us round their garden and we had tasted redcurrants and gooseberries.

   2007, Michael Riisager, Letters to Kaia: Adventures of a Danish Boy in England During World War II and After, page 224

   Eddy became quite good at picking strawberries, raspberries, black- and redcurrants, loganberries, apples, pears, plums, and vegetables.

   2010, John Welshman, Churchill's Children: The Evacuee Experience in Wartime Britain, unnumbered page

   Synonyms: garnetberry, wineberry