Harvesting Blackcurrants for British Cassis and Ribena

Well it's Blackcurrant Day today, 15th July, when the anti-oxidant filled, vitamin rich superfood is celebrated. Have you ever thought about how British Cassis is made? Starting in early July ( (late June this year due to the warm weather) and continuing through August, blackcurrant harvest is undertaken at White Heron Estate and other UK farms. This year, the currants are plentiful and sweet, thanks to the glorious sunshine we've been getting here in Herefordshire. We harvest around 400 million blackcurrants at White Heron. Unsurprisingly we don't actually count them: it's a question of maths - decimal places to be precise. We know how many we harvest because a blackcurrant weighs one gram on average. So how many blackcurrants are there in a tonne?   The huge majority of our blackcurrants are destined to be Ribena berries, and these are special.  But the very finest are the ones that we reserve for British Cassis.  They are fermented with champagne yeast a small amount of sugar and vodka are added - that's it - it's a super pure drink. Perfect to combine with our own White Heron Estate Sparkling Wine to make a British Royale (our take on the Kir Royale). Cin cin!