# Why can't I find dried currants?



## AsYouWish (Apr 20, 2005)

With autumn here, I'm suddenly back into meal planning/cooking. Twice now, I've picked out recipes that sounded delicious







and had to abandon them because I cannot find dried currants. It's making me crazy! We live in a small city that's REALLY, REALLY big on beef and potatoes kinds of meals. (To give you an idea: The grocery store's chicken section is as wide as I am while almost the whole width of the store is dedicated to beef and pork! There seems to be an unusual number of morbidly obese people for a city this size......hmmmmm, could there be a connection??







) So you can imagine it's hard to find "unusual" ingredients, especially since we are "mostly vegetarian".

Suggestions, anyone? TIA!


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## ladywolf (Aug 20, 2004)

Have you tried: Walmart grocery (try the candy aisle of all places)
Target grocery
Regular grocery in the candy aisle
Natural food stores
You can actually find them for sale on-line as well.

These are suggestions. I find in a normal grocery store in the most strange places.


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## just6fish (Feb 28, 2005)

THere are lots on the net if you do a search. Here's one link .

What are you making with them, if you don't mind my asking. I







to try new things!


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## UK Mom (Jul 2, 2002)

Isn't that annoying when you find a recipe you want to try and can't get the ingredients? I have that a lot when I want to make American recipes and can't get the ingredients here in the UK. (Ironically, dried currants are very popular here!) The key is to substitute! Currants are essentially light raisins, so try substituting raisins in your recipe, and it should turn out essentially the same.

(I am assuming that currants are the same thing in the US and UK!)


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## AsYouWish (Apr 20, 2005)

ladywolf -- We do not have a Target or Walmart (with grocery) in town. But thanks for the tip about the candy aisle. I've decided I'm just going to keep a list of those more "unusual" items I want to use and try out the health food store in the next city over (about a 25 min drive). I will definitely keep in mind to look in the candy aisle (and other unexpected places) when I stop in at the bigger stores though.

just6fish -- Thanks for the link!

UK Mom -- I didn't know until I looked up the link that just6fish offered that currants are small raisins! Thanks for the info though! If worse comes to worse, I will substitute. But I think currants are supposed to be more tart than raisins and I like the tartness! So I'm going to do what I can to find the currants! Btw, my friend from New Zealand has the same trouble trying to find ingredients to make recipes from home now that she's living in the US.

Thanks everyone!


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## slacker_mom (Mar 30, 2005)

I just bought some at Whole Foods today. If you are anywhere near them, you can gets lots of yummy dried fruits.


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## slacker_mom (Mar 30, 2005)

I had currant bushes in my yard in Oslo when I was a child, so I had to look this up! They definitely weren't champagne grapes.

"The English word 'currant' has been used for this fruit only since 1550, taken from the fruit's resemblance to the dried currants of Greece, raisins made from a small seedless grape. The much older English name 'ribes' is of ancient Indo-European origin and is common to other languages."

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/currants.html


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