“I know that,” said little Sally. “I remember how delicious it tasted last summer when I was sick. Mamma made what she called ‘currantade,’ and nothing could have been nicer.”
“Then we can press out the juice, and add an equal weight of loaf sugar, and boil it down to a jelly and keep it for the winter; and it helps us when we have colds and coughs,” said Gill.
“Yes, and mother puts it between thin loaves of cake, to make jelly-cake,” said Sally; “and she pours boiling water on the jelly to make a syrup for the baked pudding, which Ben and I like so well; and she sends glasses of the jelly to the sick, whenever she hears of any body who wants it.”
“And father had some currants pressed for wine, don’t you remember?” said Ben. “He’s going to keep it as long as he can. He says it will be far better twenty years from this time, and it is not like the poisonous stuff which the distillers make, and which brings such sorrow and disgrace upon the people who drink it; though father says it is wiser and better to take no wine at all, except in sickness, and when the doctor orders it for old or feeble persons.”
“Even the currant-bush is good for something,” said Gill. “The inner bark is boiled in water, as a remedy for jaundice, and other diseases.”
Ben did not like the taste of the black currant. It is disagreeable to some people, but it is said to be useful in cases of sore throat. Indeed it has been called the “quinsy berry.” It grows to the size of a hazel-nut, in Siberia, and is made into wine and jelly, and “rob,” or syrup. The leaves are fragrant, and make a pleasant beverage, and the young roots furnish a medicine for eruptive fevers. Ben asked Gill about the dried currants that are sold at the grocer’s.
“These are small grapes,” said Gill.
“They are imported from the old country, and are known there as ‘Corinth raisins’.”
“Gooseberries are harder to pick than currants,” said Sally; “the bushes have so many thorns, they tear my hands.”
“Put your gloves on,” said Gill, “or be careful how you take hold. You can draw a branch away with one hand, and pick with the other.”