Golden currant
Ribes aureum
Also called Buffalo currant
We do not have a Blackfoot or Cree name for this one yet. Tell us the name and we will add it, with your word on where it comes from.
A thornless currant of coulee bottoms with clove-scented yellow flowers in spring and dark fruit in late summer.
Commonly shared knowledge. Learn it, gather it, and follow the protocol.
What it is confused with
Easily confusedGooseberries and bristly currants Ribes species
Those carry thorns or bristles. Golden currant is smooth-stemmed. All the currants and gooseberries here are edible, so this is a matter of knowing what you have rather than a safety question.
How to know it
- Flowers
- Bright yellow tubular flowers in small clusters, smelling strongly of cloves.
- Leaves
- Three-lobed like a small maple leaf, smooth, greyish-green.
- Stems
- No thorns and no prickles, which separates it from the gooseberries.
- Fruit
- Round, smooth, ripening yellow to red to black, with the dried flower still attached at the tip.
The country it grows in
- Coulee slopes
- Riverbanks and willow flats
- Aspen parkland
Landscape types only. We do not publish where a patch is, and we are not going to.
When it is ready
- Berries July to September
Right now it is July. Something on this plant is in season.
What it is used for
- Food and drink
Eaten fresh, dried, and cooked. A common addition to pemmican.
How it is prepared
- Food
Fresh or cooked.
- Dried and stored
Dried whole and kept for winter.
Protocol
Ask the plant first, and offer something before you take anything. Tobacco is what is most often offered here. Say who you are, and say what the medicine is for.
Harvest the mature plants and leave the small ones to grow. Never take the first plant you find, and never take all of them.
Take only what you will actually use. Medicine picked and then left to rot in a bag was taken for nothing.
Leave the ground as you found it. Put back any dirt you dug up, and return any plant material you do not use to the earth.
Do not gather beside roads, highways or trails, where the plants take up whatever has been sprayed or spilled there.
If you are not certain what a plant is, do not pick it and do not put it in your mouth. Ask someone. Being wrong in the field is how people get hurt.