Yesterday I opened a small jar of jam that my mother made from currants. She cooks jam every year, from those little berries whose name is a little confusing because I have found variants of that name in English. They could be called currants, but that name also applies to other fruits. I think that red currants is the most accurate name. The taste of them is also peculiar. By themselves, these berries are sour, and cooked with sugar for jam they give a sour-sweet taste. Not everyone likes it.
Leaving behind the taste and the name of it we can see what this fruit looks like. They grow in small (around 1 metre high) shrubs. Late June and until the middle of July is when they ripen. The jam I was consuming yesterday was from this year, from the red currants that my mom picked in June.
In my mother's garden, right next to the currant bush, we can also find a gooseberry bush. They are also small berries, but they do not form such numerous clusters as the red currants do. The berries are slightly bigger and of yellowish colour. Also a bit sour, whit thorns in the branches of the shrub. Gooseberries can be consumed fresh or also cooked as a jam.
While we're still talking about bushes and small berries... my parents also have raspberries, although they didn't bear much this year. Truth be told - maybe I just arrived late so the raspberries were already picked. I found some, and every few days a few more raspberries ripened. Hidden under the leaves, I knew I had to look for them to find them.
There is also a little jar of jam I got. That will be the next one that I will open.
Apricots are the favourite fruit of my father. They have several apricot trees but not all the trees bore fruit. I think there was a frost when they bloomed, in the spring, and then the fruits did not develop.
This type of apricot developed and ripened on only two or three trees. There is also a different variety that ripens later in the summer. Those were still not good to consume when I was visiting this garden.
Grapes were still too green in July. They ripen in late autumn - a lot to go for these clusters to become edible.
Same story with the apples. Although there are varieties of green apples that are good for consumption, these are just unripe ones. In a month or two these will be good, however, I am not there anymore to enjoy them.
Every fruit has its time... that is how nature works :)