Currants

Currants, a small kind of raisin, are the dried red or blue berries of a small-fruited seedless variety of the common vine, which is cultivated in the East, and especially the Ionian Islands and in Greece. The name, originally Raisins de Corinthe, is derived from the city of Corinth, in the neighbourhood of which they were first cultivated. They are very small, round, with a thin skin, without seeds, and very sweet. Those brought from the island of Zante are most esteemed. The grafting, pruning, trimming, and irrigating of the vine-stocks, which of late have suffered from the phylloxera, involve much labour. As the grapes ripen, the bunches are dusted with sulphur, to keep off the dreaded Oidium (q.v.); rain at this period always injures and sometimes ruins the crop. The vintage is in August. The currants when ripe are spread out on drying-grounds in layers half an inch thick, and frequently turned. The currants, now loosened from the grape-stick, are tightly packed in barrels for exportation, and are an important Greek export. In a few districts of Greece, a very sweet wine is made from currants. The duty on currants imported into Britain fell from 44s. per cwt. before 1834 to 7s. in 1860. Our import is about 126,000 tons per annum. In 1877–91, when the vines were suffering from the phylloxera, France imported enormous quantities for wine-making.