The US War on Currants and Gooseberries

[Music] foreign [Music] if you are a fan of this little candy that's called Skittles you might be surprised to find out that the purple Skittle in the United States has a completely different flavor than the purple Skittle of the United Kingdom in the United States the purple Skittle is a kind of a generic grape flavor that's used in many candies but in the United Kingdom the purple Skittle is a flavor with which many Europeans are familiar that the New York Times describes as deep and musky with a mouth puckering sourness it's black currant and the reason that the Wrigley company that makes Skittles doesn't serve black currant Skittles to the United States is that the American pallet is almost completely unfamiliar with it in fact Marvin Pitts a professor of horticulture at Cornell University suggests that 99.9 of Americans have never tasted it why because for nearly a century the United States government fought a war against currents and gooseberries it is history that deserves to be remembered ribies are A genus of medium shrub-like plants the journal Hort science explained in 1996 at about 150 species of the genus ribies are found throughout the northern portion of the northern hemisphere along the Indians mountains in South America and in northwest Africa along the Mediterranean plants of the genus produce berries black currants red currants white currants gooseberries and yasta berries a hybrid of black currants and gooseberries these berries are very nutritionally dense the website very well fit explains that currents may be tiny but they pack a big nutritional punch like other berries they're excellent sources of fiber vitamin C and antioxidants especially the flavonoid anthocyanin likewise the website healthwise explains that gooseberries are low in calories and fat but rich in dietary fiber copper manganese potassium and vitamins C B5 and B6 the nutritional value of the berries seems to have been recognized early on heart science writes that herbalists collected rybees fruit from the wild for use in medicines as early as the 1400s and domestication efforts began during the 1500s the website uncommon fruits notes that currents were discovered to have a soothing effect on sore throats which is now attributed to its high vitamin C content the website townsends explains that they are extremely high in vitamin C on average six blackcurrant berries contain the same amount of vitamin C as does an entire lemon black currants were also used in the 18th and 19th centuries as a throat lozenge they often went by the name Kinsey berries who used to treat Kinsey's a chronic tonsil condition Hort science continues that by the 1700s red currants and gooseberries were popular garden fruits in Western Europe and black were sold in farmers markets in Russia white black and red currants have many culinary uses in Europe where they are commonly used in Jellies and sauces the New York Times explains that austrians often serve current sauces with game just as the British serve roasts with Cumberland sauce currents or currant jelly stewed with Port Orange Juice and zest red currants are usually used in Cumberland sauce but black currants have a deeper flavor dried black currants have been described as the fruit of choice for traditional English scones and currents of all kinds are popular all over Europe used in Jellies and preserves black currants are also used in the popular drink ribena the newspaper the guardian explains it named after the plant's Latin name rybee's negrum ribena was developed by the bristol-based food and drink company H.W Carter and launched in 1938 because black currants have a high vitamin C content free ribena was given to Children during the second world war when fruits such as oranges became hard to get the guardian notes at around 90 percent of the black currants grown in the UK today are used to make ribena it's important to note that the word current also applies to a wholly different fruit townsends explains that there are two basic kinds of currents used in cooking the half pint raisin type and the cousin to the Gooseberry type the small raisins are not ribies at all but actual raisins processed from small seedless Corinth grapes although the two are not closely related plants these grapes grown in Greece and cultivated as early as the 14th century were possibly confused with actual currents Townsend writes that early attempts to grow grapes of Corinth in northern Europe failed and some sources suggested upon the successful cultivation of the ribies Bush a common misconception arose that the ribies Bush was the plant from which sentence currents were derived the name current was misapplied as a result Townsend speculates that the cultivation of ribies was an attempt to create a local source as Britain has a long history of high tariffs on raisins the closely related Gooseberry has also long been popular in the United Kingdom and Northern Europe the website British food history explains that although sometimes served with goose it is not the origin of the gooseberries name as you might assume comes from the old Norman Middle English grossest or grossier the old word for wait for it grossiel the French for red currant so in effect we called gooseberries red currant berries all of these words came from the Frankie shrimp crusole which means crisp Berry and the Gooseberry certainly is that British food he continues gooseberry s were extremely popular and have been cultivated in Britain since at least the 15th century they were important because they were the first soft fruit of the summer cropping well as far north as the Shetland and orkney Islands in the Midlands in northern England they were revered a tradition of competitive growing quickly developing there was a single aim in these competitions to grow the heaviest Berry these clubs were widespread and at one point their 170 growing clubs and a handful still exists today in Yorkshire and Cheshire to achieve heavy berries by the way you must strip your shrub of berries as soon as they appear leaving behind a dozen or so that the plant can put all its energy into growing just a few fruits but what about the United States if ribies are popular elsewhere why are they hardly known here in fact the University of Missouri notes that in the United States there are about 50 native species of ribies including the American gooseberry moreover ribies were once widely cultivated in the United States Hort science explains that domestic currents and gooseberries were introduced into the United States in the 1700s and by 1920 there were more than three thousand hectares in commercial production most of the Farms were concentrated in the Middle Atlantic Upper Midwest and Northeastern states New York was the leading state for current production followed by Michigan Pennsylvania Ohio Minnesota Missouri Colorado Washington and California Marin County Oregon was the only county in the United States with more than 40 hectares of commercial gooseberries Fruit Growers also produce gooseberries in Michigan Washington and Colorado as the black currant has a stronger flavor that Americans apparently didn't prefer Hort science explains that red and white currants made up nearly all of the rybes production in the United States the UK newspaper the sun explains that black currant bushes were grown in America as early as the 1600s when British settlers brought the fruit to be cultivated on a large scale by the late 1800s U.S Farmers grew around 7 400 Acres of black currants gooseberries and white currants with New York leading the way in production but in the early 1900s Farmers realized the black currant was threatening an even bigger U.S industry Timber poor Street expert Warren benedict with U.S department of Agriculture explains in his work a history of white pine blister rust controller personal account this story has its beginning in Geneva and Central New York state in 1909 when blister rust was discovered in a plantation of young white pines growing from planting stock imported from Europe this discovery raised significant alarm Benedict continues well there have been several earlier findings including some diseased current bushes near a Geneva Nursery in 1906 in a few scattered sightings dating back to 1898. it was the 1909 discovery that flashed the red light of danger ahead but what does white pine blister rust a fungus that affects five needled pine trees have to do with currents and gooseberries Benedict explains White Pine blister rust is known as a heterocious rust fungus A parasitic fungus that requires two distinctly different and often unrelated species or Genera of alternate host plants to complete its life cycle he notes that blister rust has as its primary host the white pines and doesn't attack the other Pines seven species of white pine are native to North America and three of these have great commercial value eastern and western White Pine and Sugar Pine the secondary host for blister rust can be either current or Gooseberry bushes which are known collectively by botanists as ribies blister rust is relatively harmless to current and Gooseberry bushes but can kill white pine trees of all sizes this shows the risk of ribies the spores that spread the fungus from Pines to ribies are tough it can be blown long distances but the spores produced by the infected ribies are Benedict explains relatively heavy and quite fragile he goes on these spores usually do not remain viable long enough to transmit infection to Pines more than a few hundred yards away by removing the Ry bees from within and for several hundred yards around White Pine stands the stands could usually be completely protected thus forestry officials surmised to protect the Pines the rybes must go the Stockton California evening and Sunday record wrote in August 1922 White Pine blister rust is a destructive disease of Five needled Pines and was first reported from Western Europe where the eastern white pine was grown commercially on an extensive scale the Russ made such an attack on the pine that even attempts at its control were a dismal failure and growing Eastern White Pines in Europe was abandoned the paper doesn't mean to words and opinion of the white pine blister rust White Pine blister rust is a parasitic fungus A microscopic plant which like the human professional believes that the world owes it a living and forth with proceeds to take it from a living pine tree the paper goes on to make a surprising literary reference we've all read Robert Louis Stevenson's weird tale of a double personality Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the white pine blister rust and many other rusts we have actually this dual personality but with the important difference that the Stevenson conception of it wherein the genial Dr Jekyll was the personification of benevolence and in his Mr Hyde condition just the reverse both stages of this white pine blister rust one of five leaf pine and the other of currents and gooseberries are equally malevolent but then comes the important part while ribies were a popular crop they were not nearly as valuable as the timber they threatened Evening Sun and record rights now we have in the West Forest of five leaved Pine value at over 228 million dollars estimated to contained over 57 billion feet of lumber if we should have a 25 loss of this Pine Timber within the next six years what would be the effect on the price of lumber and does not wish even to imagine the devastation that would be done to our glorious Beauty spots wonder and Solace to the tourists who went away from him on a summer vacation the paper explains what must be done the effective control of the disease consists either of cutting down all the Pines where it occurs or else digging up and burning all the currents and gooseberries in the vicinity of the Pines the latter method is the one most feasible the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote In 1910. the remedy therefore is simple wherever the pest is found the ribies bushes will be ordered removed this is the only known remedy thus the berries had to be sacrificed to save the Pines in Europe however the opposite Choice was made Business Insider notes that in contrast to the United States Europe had few commercial pine tree plantations black currants on the other hand had been an important crop for a long time Benedict writes that in Europe the white pine was sacrificed to retain the ribies the first U.S government reaction described in the 1912 quarantine Act was to ban the import of white pine from Europe expanded in 1913 to ban the import of white pine from any country thus preventing the import of infected trees but as the blister rust was already invading forests the further step was necessary war against rybes the department of agricultural rights the project was military in its size scope and organization the government established an office of blister Rust Control and engaged in aggressive policy of rybee's removal recommending that all ribies be destroyed within 200 to 300 yards of white pine stands in that black currants be outlawed in all states where White Pines grew ryby's eradication Benedict Rights was the bread and butter job the payoff resulting from other blister rest control activities it was a summer job when they could be effectively undertaken only during the period when rybes were in leaf and readily visible to search Crews Benedict describes these summer jobs as being rough work with workers spending three months away from civilization in rag camps meaning a camp of tents instead of wooden structures workers were required to build their own shelter usually two men teamed up to build a two-person lean-to beds were made of tree bows and betting was three government issued Woolen Army blankets he explains two 30-man camps operated in Upper Priest River during 1924 and 1925. each Camp had a camp boss cook flunky four crew members five four-man Crews and three Scouts the labor force consisted of forestry school students seeking Woods experience and a chance to earn some money to continue their education saving these earnings was easy he writes aside from an occasional poker game for small steaks there was no way to let Summer wedges slip through the fingers well the process took time to perfect these camps were incredibly effective the Portland Maine Press Herald wrote in 1925 that an extensive and determined battle is being carried on by federal and state forces in Maine against the blister rust is shown by a statement made to the Sunday telegram writer at the Washington Office of the U.S blister Rust Control that last year one million 108 518 acres of land in the white pine section were cleared of wild current and Gooseberry bushes the number of bushes destroyed totaled four million 164 255. from 1918 when the U.S blister rest control first came into existence up to the first of 1925. there had been a total of 36 million wild currant and Gooseberry bushes destroyed in the state of New York and the New England states the rabies war was very effective currents and gooseberries became in the United States nearly forgotten history The New York Times explained in 2009 in 1919 New York produced 3.3 million courts of the nation's 7.6 million quart annual current production now the United States current crop is too small to be reported by the agricultural Department said Danny L Barney a Horticultural professor and the fruit breeder at the University of Idaho who's been working to promote a current industry in America people simply forgot about them he said the white pine blister rust continued to spread and in fact it's still a pest today but Benedict argues that the rate at which the Pines were being damaged was significantly by the millions of ribies that were destroyed although they certainly weren't entirely successful my mother insists that when she was a child growing up in the 1940s that her grandmother made jams and jellies from currants and gooseberries from Wild bushes in New Mexico the federal ban on cultivating rybee's bushes was lifted in 1966 and regulation was left up to the States but owing to the value of the white pine Most states continued to prohibit the cultivation of rybee's bushes clear until the 21st century the ban was only lifted in New York in 2003 and today in an era when they've developed both types of pine trees and types of rabies bushes that are resistant to the blister rust there is a growing industry of rabies bushes in the United States but still more than 99 percent of the currents and gooseberries grown in the world today are grown in Europe because here in the United States we've still not decided whether the berry that has been described as a cross between a blueberry and a cranberry deserves to be remembered I hope you enjoyed watching this episode of the history guy and if you did please feel free to like And subscribe and share the history guide with your friends 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 1,095,106

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: LZAk1a0dqiM

Length: 17min 25sec (1045 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 12 2023