Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. 1 A shrub, ''Ribes nigrum'', that produces small, very dark purple, edible berry. 2 The berry borne by this shrub.
Wikipedia
The blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) is a woody shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its piquant berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia where it prefers damp fertile soils and is widely cultivated both commercially and domestically. It is winter hardy but cold weather at flowering time during the spring reduces the size of the crop. Bunches of small, glossy black fruit develop along the stems in the summer and can be harvested by hand or by machine. The fruit is rich in vitamin C, various other nutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants. Blackcurrants can be eaten raw but are usually cooked in a variety of sweet or savoury dishes. They are used to make jams, jellies and syrups and are grown commercially for the juice market. The fruit is also used in the preparation of alcoholic beverages and both fruit and foliage have uses in traditional medicine and the preparation of dyes.
As a crop, the blackcurrant suffers from several pests and diseases. The most serious disease is reversion, caused by a virus transmitted by the blackcurrant gall mite. Another is white pine blister rust which alternates between two unrelated hosts, one in the genus Ribes (blackcurrant included) and the other a white pine. This fungus caused damage to forests when the fruit was first introduced into North America, where the native white pines have no genetic resistance to the disease. As a result, the blackcurrant has for most of the 20th century been subject to restrictions in parts of the United States as a disease vector. The effectiveness of these restrictions is questionable, since other Ribes species also host the disease and are native to North America.
Breeding is being undertaken in Europe and New Zealand to produce fruit with better eating qualities and bushes with greater hardiness and disease resistance.
Usage examples of "blackcurrant".
The soup and the blinis were all right, and the ice-cream with blackcurrant jam was fine, but the meat with its attendant teaspoonfuls of chopped carrot, chopped lettuce, and inch-long chips went across the table to Frank.
Frank opened his mouth and then decided not to ask what ingrowing toenails had to do with it, and I smothered my laughter in ice-cream and blackcurrant jam.
Mackintosh looks at a likeness to blobs of cream on a blackcurrant jelly.
Rabbit stools were everywhere scattered like dried blackcurrants in the opening.
Bizarre drinks, ch as rum and blackcurrant juice or advocaat and lemonade, re being mixed in what remained of our tumblers, supplemented by toothmugs from the bathroom.
Among its principal food sources are rosehip syrup, acerola cherry, blackcurrants, lemon juice, orange juice, bananas, fresh fruit in general, parsley, white cabbage - but the list is endless.