A Jostaberry... say what?

We saw a listing on the site the other day for a Jostaberry bush.... we got asking around our office, and no one really new much about the Jostaberry, so we decided to look in to it.

The Jostaberry is a cross fruit bush involving three original species; the black currant the North American coastal black gooseberry and the European gooseberry.  The tangy-sweet flavor of a Jostaberry (pronounced yust-a-berry) is a mix of grape, blueberry, and kiwi-fruit.  Jostaberries are great in jams, jellies, and pies.  The shiny, nearly black berry, which is smaller than a gooseberry and a bit larger than a blackcurrant, is edible both raw and cooked. The ripe fruit will hang on the bush in good condition through late summer.  Like blackcurrants the fruit freezes well, and like many other members of the Ribes genus it is rich in vitamin C.  They're a little harder to pluck than blackcurrants are, however, an advantage they have against the gooseberry is that the plant is thorn-less.
The plant itself grows to a maximum height of about 2 m, flowering in mid-spring, with fruit setting and ripening on a similar timetable to the blackcurrant. The plant grows and produces fruit well and is generally resistant to a number of common diseases afflicting other Ribes. Flowers are hermaphrodite and the plant is self-fertile following insect pollination. Propagation is usually by cuttings, rather than by seeds.  Space bushes about 6 feet apart in well-drained, slightly acid soil. Grow in full to part sun; in hotter regions, afternoon shade is best.
Maintenance is simple. Prune in late winter, cutting out broken or drooping branches. To encourage the growth of fewer, larger berries and new replacement shoots, cut the oldest one or two canes to the ground.

So now that we are well educated on the Jostaberry (maybe more than you wanted to know) we thought we would leave you with a recipe to get the Jostaberry juices flowing.... and if you want to get a Jostaberry bush check out the listing here



Jostaberry Ice Cream (courtesy of Icy Creek Blog )

2 cups of jostaberries.
1  1/2 cups of cream
3/4 of a cup of sugar (go up to a cup if you like your ice cream really sweet).
Combine jostaberries and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved and simmer for no more than five minutes. Blend the jostaberries but do not put them through a sieve. Cool, and then churn with the cream in an ice cream maker.


Enjoy!