As soon as hot July approaches, the season of currants opens - red, black, white, burgundy and even green - for every taste. And who is golden or golden currant? Personally, I am only impressed by the latter - oh, what a scent during its flowering period, I want to get deeper into a bush or sit in a row of golden currants and all day long to breathe in this wonderful aroma, wonderful, fantastic.
But in fact, in fact, about golden currants (Ribes aureum) not everyone knows and confuses it with a largely failed hybrid of currants and gooseberries, that is, yoshta. Scientists wanted to get a thornless gooseberry, but so far it has not come out. Golden currant is a completely separate culture that came to our continent relatively recently, only in the 18th century. Here I would like to make a small digression - how much you write about cultures, you only read, came to us in the VIII-XIX-XX centuries, but what did we eat before? Rutabaga, and washed down with bread kvass? Horror, in a word.
So, golden currant, what are you so good about besides the heady aroma? It turns out that this shrub is quite tall, certainly taller than human growth, but completely unpretentious. At our institute, half a year grows in a weed, only occasionally weeds, once a season a tractor passes between the rows, removing at least some weeds, and with all this it even gives a good harvest. Apparently, a weak shrub would not have withstood such an execution and banally died out, but this one is tenacious, resistant to pests and diseases, and in terms of frost resistance, 90% of the currant species will simply leave far behind. But that's not all: preferring, of course, nutritious and moderately moist chernozems, golden currant grows literally on any type of soil, it does not tolerate only an excessive excess of moisture and very heavy, literally stony clay soils.
Golden currant is a wonderful honey plant, and a wonderful shrub, it will decorate any site, you just need to get used to the fact that you cannot call it a modest one (as we already mentioned) in size. Well, for example, in height it can easily jump over three meters, and the diameter of the crown will be two meters. A number of gardeners carefully tie up the bushes of golden currants, and then they do not fall apart throughout the site and do not take up a lot of area just like that, simply shading it.
The peak, there is simply an explosion of the aroma of golden currant flowers occurs in May - a bit of a pity, because at this time a sufficient number of other crops are blooming, but I want this aroma to be the only one, so that everyone pays attention to the golden currant, and not corny bypasses it ... The currant blooms for a long time, about 20 days, and bees from all over the region collect nectar from it with great pleasure. During the flowering period, the bush is literally covered with gold - it is the golden petals of its flowers that burn in the Sun, perhaps that is why they called it golden.
The fruits of golden currants usually ripen at the very beginning of August, this is good, because other berry crops have already handed over their harvest by this time, and if you want to put a fresh berry in your mouth and chew, then just golden currant comes to the rescue. As for the size of the berries, they are approximately equal to the size of black currants, not the smallest, of course, but medium in size or slightly more than average. And if you take a closer look, you really notice a resemblance to a gooseberry - or maybe nature sinned, even when a person did not think of it before ?!
However, no, the fruits do not have a specific aroma - neither characteristic of black currants, nor gooseberries. Their taste can be safely called sweet, there is sourness, but it is barely discernible. Berries can be actively eaten fresh and used for various types of processing.They say that golden currants make wonderful intoxicating drinks that can be a good relaxation after a hard day in the field, when the nasopharynx is clogged with dust from tractors scurrying back and forth.
But we are a little distracted, let's still talk about the varieties of the FNTs them. I.V. Michurin, which quite recently was called VNIIS im. I.V. Michurin.
We will start with the grade Sultry Mirage... And although she is fully engaged in the study of golden currants in our department, Olga Sergeevna Rodyukova, Candidate of Sciences, Senior Researcher, in the first place in the authorship of the variety is an equally respected person - also Candidate of Sciences, Acting Deputy Director for Science - Tatyana Vladimirovna Zhidekhina.
The name - Sultry Mirage - suggests something magical, as if in the desert a traveler, languishing with thirst, suddenly saw an oasis with drinking water, but this is just a bush with golden currant berries. So what will a traveler see in front of him when he clears his eyes from the sand? The Sultry Mirage is distinguished by an average ripening period and a universal purpose, that is, you can use the fruits as you like, even if you shoot them from a slingshot. The bush is medium-sized, which will immediately force you to take up a pencil and frantically look for a piece of paper from owners of backyard plots, which are already crammed with the wonders of breeding thought. Medium spreading - it will add even more optimism!
The shoots are of medium size, they are slightly curved, painted in burgundy brown and are not pubescent at all, they also do not shine in the sun - because they are matte. We will not describe the buds, but we will touch the leaves, they are medium in size, strikingly similar to those of the gooseberry and have a light green color. The plate of the leaf, if you run your finger over it, turns out to be indecently naked, it is shiny, especially after rain, completely smooth, but for some reason convex. The cloves, too, I think, very few people will be interested, but the fruit brush may well. Even in our harsh conditions, where plants do not grow, but survive, and the fact that more varieties stand out from them is already a miracle, so here also the fruit cluster has an average length and will obviously be larger on nutritious soil. The berries are not scattered on it, like on a bird cherry, but follow each other. No pubescence on the hand.
For beauty lovers, we can say that the flowers of this variety are medium in size, but they have a bright golden color.
The berries were a little surprised, their average weight is only 0.8 g, and the maximum is only 1.3 g. But what about the Zarina variety with a berry weight of 3.4 g, Fatima, where the berries weigh 3.6 g? But, apparently, in our harsh soil conditions, 1.3 g is already a record.
The shape of the berries is round, the color just perfectly matches the name, I don't know who came up with the name, Tatyana Vladimirovna or Olga Sergeevna, but the sultry mirage and the bright orange color of the berries are just a perfect combination. The peel on berries of medium thickness is practically not felt when consumed, and if you collect and try to take it somewhere, then at least half of the equator will pass without problems.
The chemical composition of the berries has also been determined. It cannot be said that eyes will climb on the forehead from him, but still almost 12.3% sugar, less than 1.0% acid, traces of ascorbic acid and all this gives us a sweet and sour, refreshing taste that will save any traveler from thirst ... By the way, it was previously believed that the consumption of golden currant juice normalizes male strength.
Knowing all this, the tasters did their best and scored 4.6 points out of 5 possible. What else? Productivity - if someone decides to plant industrial plantings of golden currants, they will receive as much as 74.4 centners per hectare.
Michurinsky Souvenir - another interesting name, as if he picked up the berries of this variety, put them in a chest and took them away for a long and good memory. Judging by the color of the berries, and they are maroon in the variety, one could call it somehow more elegant, but again this is the work of the owners of the variety - Tatyana Vladimirovna Zhidekhina and the second author - Olga Sergeevna Rodyukova.Why did they bring such a thing there that the variety appeared in the State Register from the summer in the same year? It turns out that the variety is nothing special and does not differ, it is just new, like Lada Granta, it is distinguished by an average ripening period, universal, actively growing (notebooks have been postponed), and in addition, medium spreading. Probably, we will omit the story about thick and straight shoots, brown buds, green leaves with sharp teeth, we will stop right away at the fruit cluster.
This is interesting - in the harsh conditions of the soil compacted by the wheels of tractors and without fertilization, the fruit cluster turned out to be medium with an average arrangement of berries on it. The berries have an average weight of about 1.3 g, the maximum reaches 2.5 (we forget Zarina and Fatima with their 3.6, it is probably warmer there). The shape of the berries is round, the color is not quite typical for golden currants - maroon, this is really interesting. The peel is of medium thickness - when you eat - you don't feel, when you are carrying - you don't worry!
In fruits, there are about 10% sugars, a little more than 1% acid, about 50 mg% ascorbic acid. All this combination gives the berries a sweet and sour, refreshing taste and aroma in one person.
The tasters unanimously gave almost the highest score - 4.6 out of 5 possible.
For those who dare to lay a plot of golden currant, we inform you that they can easily collect 76.7 centners per hectare of beautiful berries, and the plants will serve faithfully, because they are drought-resistant, heat-resistant and are sick and affected by pests no more than standard varieties - what the Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation convinces us.
Photo by the author
