Currant History: A Black Market Mini (History)

We're on a roll with our mini knowledge drops because we just can't stop giving props to our Black Market minis.

The blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) was introduced by English settlers at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and was cultivated on some scale, particularly in New York.

In 1911, the federal government banned the cultivation, sale, and transport of blackcurrants to protect the white pine. Though the federal ban was lifted in 1966, though many states maintained their own bans. Research showed that blackcurrants could be safely grown some distance from white pines and this led to most states lifting their bans by 2003.

Despite the lifting of the ban, the fruit remains relatively rare and unfamiliar to most Americans, having been absent from the country's agricultural landscape for generations.