War on Currants: Why Black Currants Were Banned in the U.S. and Why They’re Finally Coming Back

A forgotten fruit, a fungal outbreak, and a century-long misunderstanding

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Imagine a fruit so controversial the government decided it had to go. That’s basically what happened to currants in the United States. And most people have no idea.

War on Currants: Why the Delicious Fruit Bush Fought To Be Brought Back to U.S. Home Gardens

I grew up eating currants like they were nothing.

Then I moved to the U.S. and realized almost nobody here even knows what they are. Not just that. For decades, they were basically banned.

I lived part of my childhood in Eastern Europe, where backyard gardens, or what we called dachas, were full of fruit bushes. Gooseberries, currants, berries everywhere. It was just normal.

So when I got here and couldn’t even find them in stores, I had questions.

What Even Are Currants?

Currants are part of the Ribes family, which also includes gooseberries. They come in red, white, and black varieties, with black currants being especially tart and packed with antioxidants.

Some species are native to North America, but most cultivated varieties people recognize come from Europe, where they’ve been grown for generations.

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So What Went Wrong?

Things took a turn in the early 1900s.

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A fungal disease called white pine blister rust showed up in North America. It actually came over on infected pine seedlings from Europe, not from currants themselves.

The issue is that the fungus needs two hosts to survive. One is white pine trees, and the other is plants from the Ribes family.

The UMass Extension guide explains it pretty clearly. The disease “requires both Ribes plants and five-needle pines to complete its life cycle.”

So even though currants didn’t start the problem, they became part of how it spread.

At the time, that was a huge problem. White pine was incredibly valuable for construction and industry, and the disease was damaging forests across the country.

The Government Steps In

In 1912, the U.S. passed the Plant Quarantine Act, and things escalated quickly.

Currants and gooseberries were restricted or outright banned in many areas. There were even organized efforts to remove Ribes plants entirely.

According to the Library of Congress, there were “extensive campaigns to remove Ribes plants in order to protect white pine forests,” which is about as aggressive as it sounds.

And just to be clear, this wasn’t only about black currants. The entire Ribes family got lumped in.

Meanwhile, Europe Just Kept Growing Them

While the U.S. was going full anti-currant, Europe didn’t follow the same path.

They continued growing currants and gooseberries, partly because of different agricultural practices and partly because the impact on their forests wasn’t as severe.

The specific white pine species most affected in North America were not as central in Europe, so the economic pressure just wasn’t the same.

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The Comeback Era

By the 1960s, things started to shift.

Researchers developed disease-resistant varieties of both currants and white pines, which made the original concerns less severe.

According to the Library of Congress article, federal restrictions were eventually lifted, and control over currant cultivation was handed to individual states.

From there, currants slowly started making a comeback.

Very slowly.

So Where Are They Now?

Even today, currants are still not a mainstream grocery store fruit in the U.S.

Their long absence basically erased them from the average American diet.

But they are coming back with home gardeners and small growers, especially people looking for something a little different.

Final Thought

For me, currants are tied to memory. They remind me of a completely different kind of backyard.

It’s funny how something so normal in one place can almost disappear in another.

But at least now, it’s making its way back.

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Sources

• Library of Congress Blog America’s Blackcurrant Ban https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/10/americas-blackcurrant-ban/
• UMass Extension Currants and Gooseberries: NE Small Fruit Management Guide https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/fruit/ne-small-fruit-management-guide/currants-gooseberries