Description
Currants are slow to pick. The berries are small, the clusters want individual attention, and a good bush holds more fruit than most people have patience for. Gloire des Sablons is the French answer: an heirloom carried for its strig length, where the fruit hangs in long strands you take whole and strip at the kitchen table in a fraction of the time.
That trait is also why it is the pink currant that gets used for show. A long strand of translucent berries, white streaked and splashed with rose and touched with gold, is a garnish in itself, and this cultivar has a long history in summer puddings, jellies and on the tops of desserts for exactly that reason. The flavour is juicy and sweet, in the way pink currants generally are.
The bush is vigorous and upright at 3 to 5 ft, tidier than a sprawling red currant, and it carries good resistance to both mildew and rust. It crops heavily from the middle of July into the end of the month.
Overview
- French heirloom pink currant.
- Long strigs, so the fruit is harvested by the strand.
- Translucent white skin streaked with rose and gold.
- Heavy crop, mid to late July.
- Vigorous, upright, 3 to 5 ft tall and wide.
- Good resistance to mildew and to rust.
- Self-pollinating.
Growing Details
Latin Name: Ribes rubrum ‘Gloire des Sablons’, also sold as ‘Gloire de Sablon’
Site and Soil: Full sun to part shade, with afternoon shade in hot-summer regions; moist, well drained soil
Hardiness: Hardy to roughly -40 F, USDA Zone 3
Propagation: Grown on own roots from cuttings
Size at Maturity: 3 to 5 ft tall and wide, vigorous with an upright habit
Fruit: Translucent, white streaked and splashed with rose and gold, juicy and sweet, on long strands
Ripening Time: Mid to late July
Pollination: Self-pollinating
Pests & Diseases: Good resistance to mildew and rust. Currants host white pine blister rust and are restricted in some counties and states; check your local rules before ordering
Additional Notes
- Grower’s Insight: The long strigs are a labour trait before they are a pretty one, and if you have ever given up halfway through picking a currant bush this is the one to plant next.
- Regional Insight: A mid-to-late July ripening puts this squarely in the second half of summer across the Northeast, the Upper Midwest and the maritime Northwest, and in hotter regions such as the interior valleys and the mid-South the same window lands in real heat, where afternoon shade and steady water matter more to the crop than anything else you do.
- Currants host white pine blister rust and remain restricted in parts of the United States. Check your county and state rules before ordering.
- Explore more currants in our collection: Currants
