Northern Black Currant

Ribes hudsonianum
Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family
June 14 2013
Elfin Creek

June 16, 2014 i found a good patch of Ribes hudsonianum at Stony Creek
Black Currants

being alerted by the fragrance of their leaves when i walked through a patch.

elfin creek, May 30 2017

close to our property, May 30, 2017

 When not in fruit or blooming, Ribes hudsonianum is being distinguished from R. triste and R. glandulosum (this one i do not know it does grow elsewhere in the Yukon)

by the glands (2) on the underside of the leaves and the wooly veins (1)

Ribes hudsonianum

Ribes hudsonianum

Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family

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August 12 2008, on the power line east of Mendenhall subdivision.

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A wonderful berry to pick, no thorns and picks fast and clean somehow.

You have to like the taste though, it is strong. It makes a very good jam, for some a favorite.

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I find it in open places in moist, dark woods. I do not come upon it very often though. Again it seems to like it where a right away of some kind is being cut through the woods.

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Ribes: Persian word meaning acid-tasting

hudsonianum, I imagine it grows along the Hudson Bay.

bristly black currant

the flowering one June 7 2017

Ribes lacustre
Grossulariaceae, gooseberry family

ribes - acid tasting
lacustre- growing along ponds and lakes

The berry is very sticky and not my favorite to pick, but of its abundance and guaranteed good crop, it is a welcome addition to my harvest. It is to me not very tasty raw, But delicious as a juice. I made juice one year when the berries were covered with Fireweed fluff. Most years I make jam, which I mix with Black Currants and/or Raspberries and this year even Strawberries, which all grow in the Black Currant patch I pick.

On August 10 and 11 2008, we picked 4 litres of the above mix. Made delicious jam, using less then half white sugar, boiling it for at the most 10 min.

I call this a Gooseberry, i find it along roads and power lines. Semi-wet and semi-shaded.

At the end of August I made jam with just those berries. And it turned out very good, resembling black currant jam.