Currants may be white, red, or black and of the three, white currants are sweeter and less acidic than red or black. They grow on woody shrubs about 72” tall and are at first green but ripen to translucent white or soft pink. They have a floral aroma, flavors of sour cherry, kiwi, and Muscat grape, and a high vitamin C content. My paternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, included several recipes for currant wine in her book, Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine, and one of them specifically called for white currents.
Here is the recipe in the words of my grandmother:
Take white currants when quite ripe, pick them off the stalks, and bruise them. Strain out the juice through a cloth, and to two quarts of the juice put two pounds of loaf sugar; when it is dissolved, add one gallon of rum, then stain through a flannel bag that will keep in the jelly, and it will run off clear. Then bottle for use.
To buy Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine by Helen S. Wright from Amazon.com Click Here.
Karen Meyers