"New Zealand needs exciting stars in its food and beverage export basket - products which epitomize our country brand values of pure, healthy, clean, green and sustainable. New Zealand-grown Blackcurrants convey all of these values.
I believe our Blackcurrant industry can be world leaders in the same way as our wines, kiwifruit and other export stars. And I congratulate the NZ Blackcurrant industry on its overall vision, on its innovation and excellence in plant breeding, research, product development and marketing.
New Zealand's Blackcurrant industry is a potential trailblazer for other New Zealand industries and indeed for the world's Blackcurrant industry at large."
The Rt Hon Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand. October 2007.
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Japan makes a superfruit out of the humble blackcurrant
Top International Nutrition Journal does a case study on the New Zealand Blackcurrant and recognizes the unique relationship between the NZ fruit and Japanese scientists and marketers. It can be viewed HERE.
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New Zealand Editor of the Year 2007 and fruit vegetable guru Lynda Hallinan (NZ Gardener magazine) took part in the NZ Blackcurrant co-operatives Culinary 101 Blackcurrant Workshop.
The Workshop was held by the Co-operative along with two blackcurrant gourmet marketers, Barkers Fine Foods(juices/jams/sauces), and Sujon (frozen berryfruits), to champion the development of Blackcurrants in exciting new cooking concepts. Lynda describes her berry epicureal epiphany and how Blackcurrants is the star of her new favourite summer dish! Your can view it HERE (Please find -Tuesday, December 4, 2007)
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World Best Blackcurrant Farming and the BlackShield Certification Programme
The New Zealand Blackcurrant Co-operative's growing and harvesting quality management systems are now accepted as world-best practice. These systems were developed in New Zealand and now form the basis of the world-first HACCP-based SGS BlackShield Berryfruit Certification Programme (launched late in 2007). All product grown for and processed by the New Zealand Blackcurrant Co-operative is GE Free. Kosher certification is also available.
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Pioneering A Blackcurrant Renaissance Around The World
The New Zealand Blackcurrant Co-operative's farmer members are the pioneers of a world renaissance in Blackcurrant production and consumer appreciation.
A small group of New Zealand Blackcurrant farmers worked with world renowned nutritional scientist Dr Eddie Shiojima of California to understand the astonishing health potential in Blackcurrants.
The NZ Blackcurrant industry is now forming strategic research relationships with world-leading Blackcurrant researchers in the Japan Cassis Association. This association has spearheaded pioneering new research into new generation Blackcurrant wellness values. As a result exciting new nutraceutical products based on premium New Zealand-grown Blackcurrant product forms are being made available to consumers in Japan and around the world. Made from the highest quality Blackcurrants, the fruit for these world-class innovations are being sourced through the NZ Blackcurrant co-operative.
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NZ Blackcurrant Co-operative Plant Varieties and Breeding Programme
Blackcurrants originated in Europe but New Zealand has proven to provide the optimum growing conditions for them. This natural advantage of 'terroir' (the sum of all the geographic and climactic variables), plus world-leading plant breeding and selection, and the innovative production techniques of the NZ berry farmers themselves, results in Blackcurrants with exceptional colour and flavour profiles. With Blackcurrants the colour IS the goodness: it indicates the anthocyanin levels in the fruit
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The World's Leading Blackcurrant Marketer
This farmer-owned New Zealand Co-operative is the largest independent supplier of Blackcurrant processed products in the world.
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Blackcurrant Co-operative Culinary Champions
Rated by UK Conde Nast Traveller magazine as the world's top boutique hotel chef, Jason is Exec chef at luxury lodge Blanket Bay in Queenstown New Zealand. Jason was asked to create a menu for an exclusive fundraising dinner for a group of international financiers at Lake Wanaka. One of the highlights of the dinner was Confit of Duck Glazed in Cinnamon and Honey with a Blackcurrant and Pinot Noir jus. Says Chef Jason: "the intensity of flavour in the Blackcurrants is amazing and it worked perfectly with the Pinot Noir, creating an almost magical jus that matched the intoxicatingly powerful flavours of the cinnamon and honey glazed duckleg."
This recipe can be found HERE
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New Zealand: The World's Champion Cassis Country
(Cassis is the French word for the English word Blackcurrants: both are interchangeable.)
New Zealand's Blackcurrants are grown in two main regions.
The Upper Moutere is an idyllic set of valleys that enjoys exceptionally intense summer sunlight coupled with bracing frosts and winter chill. Even in summer, the high day temperature is offset by cool nights created by the fiercely rugged Southern Alps to the west and the Tasman Sea's Golden Bay to the north.
And in Canterbury the Blackcurrants are grown in a band of fertile plains encircling Banks Peninsula: Woodend to the north and Leeston/Ashburton to the south. Again, the mighty Southern Alps shape the winter's cool nights along with the off-sea winds of the Pacific Ocean.
Under the pure skies and intense UV sunlight NZ is famous for, the Blackcurrant bush produces high quantities of health-giving anthocyanins as a protective reflex to the intensity of that sunlight; and the cool nights lets the plant lock those values into the berries. The result is an intensity of colour and health functionality that is without equal in the world.
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Blackcurrant Culinary 101
Blackcurrants are one of the primary berries of Old Europe. Their flavour values are intrinsic to our overall food and wine appreciation and language. Yet 'Blackcurrant' is a primal palate descriptor and almost irreducible as an explanation. Berry farmers and other experts can rate the degrees of "Blackcurrant" flavour profile of acidity and floral characteristics but it's hard to describe the profile itself. Our best efforts to date are:
"Violets, raspberries and tannins on the nose with a bracing and crisp Cox's Orange type apple acidity balanced by an intense fruit-sugar sweetness on the mid palate, and finishing with hints of ripe raspberries and a wonderful lingering fresh mouthfeel"
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