Perfect for sweetening up your breakfast, black currant preserves are often spread on toast and offer a combination of sweet and sharp taste. Black currants are also used in a variety of dessert treats, sauces and dippings.  In addition, black currant is an ingredient in Guinness beer, and some beer aficionados assert that it adds a superior note to the flavor.

These robust black berries are versatile, and full of antioxidants. Black currants contain natural monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and therefore, consuming them regularly in food or dietary supplement form, may be beneficial for your health.

Black currants are rich in antioxidants, notably vitamin C as well as in the essential fatty acid gamma-linoleic acid (omega 6) and even minerals such as potassium. In fact, black currants contain twice the amount of potassium as bananas, four times the vitamin C of oranges, and twice the antioxidants of blueberries.

Besides vitamin C, key antioxidants in black currants are anthocyanins, which are carotenoids: a carotenoid is an antioxidant that also gives the fruit and vegetable its distinctive color. Anthocyanins in black currant have been rather extensively researched for several health-supporting properties. For example, they have been shown to promote healthy inflammatory response by inhibiting activity of inflammatory enzymes called cyclo-oxygenase 1 and cyclo-oxygenase 2.

Black currant juice is abundant in proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and cassis polysaccharide, which has been shown to stimulate the activity of macrophages, which are cells that engulf and digest debris and invading microorganisms, and thus help keep the body in top shape when fighting against rogue cells.

The good news is that the dietary supplement industry offers black currant supplements in tablets, capsules, or juice that make getting these daily benefits much easier than eating servings of this berry every single day.

Black currants are not well known since they were banned in the United States in the early 1900s, but since then the ban has been lifted in many states.  And there remains a strong potential for black currant applications in food, beverages, or dietary supplements in the U.S. market.

For more information about black currants, you can visit The Currant Company at www.currantc.com.

Or read an article about black currants in a NY Times article, “A Tart Berry Reintroduces Itself”.

Tags: anthocyanins, antioxidants, black currant, carotenoids, cassis, health benefits, industry