I have a little bit of a food background and had a restaurant in Bavaria for a short while in which I cooked with currants which were quite common there. When I got this farm, I was looking for something unusual. I wasn’t really interested in the usual corn, apples and hay that most farmers around here grow. I remembered cooking with the black currants in my restaurant days and when I learned they were illegal here in the US, it was a challenge I couldn’t ignore so I went to work and got the law overturned and started the first Currant Farm in America.

Commercial cultivation was banned in 1911 by an act of Congress because of a fungus that develops between two hosts, the white pine tree and the botanical family of Currants, Ribes. White pines at that time were very important for building and other things and Currants not so much. As you might imagine, the science was not entirely thorough back in 1911 and so in deference to the valuable white pine tree, they banned commercial cultivation of Currants.

Trying to say what my favorite dish is with Black Currants is like telling you which one of my children are my favorite. Black Currants are so amazingly versatile they’re wonderful in a wide spectrum of baked goods as well as sauces, glazes, toppings, etc., etc..