Black Currant & Vinegar by Fruchtwerker. Black currant vinegar made from black currants – tart and dark.

Black Currant & Vinegar by Fruchtwerker is a black currant vinegar made from black currants, produced in Talkau, Schleswig-Holstein: 15 percent fruit, cold-macerated for ten days in brandy and wine vinegar, sweetened with sugar, only 3 percent acidity. No added cassis flavoring, no concentrate, no coloring. 250 ml, tart, with a hint of bitterness – the dark counterpart to sweet berry vinegars.

Black currant vinegar is the mature variety in the Fruchtwerker range. Black currants are not a fruit for those with a sweet tooth: tart, slightly bitter, with an aroma reminiscent of crème de cassis and forest floor. This is precisely what defines this vinegar – it pairs well with dark sauces, duck, game, and chicory, where a raspberry vinegar would be too sweet. For us, it is the third most popular variety, with a near five-star rating.

Cassis, bitterness, then an acidity with depth

The vinegar first tastes of black currant, just as you know it from the bush: intense, tart, slightly spicy. Then comes the acidity, darker and softer than in the lighter varieties, followed by a fine bitterness that gives it a long finish. With 61 grams of sugar per 100 grams, its sweetness is the highest in the range – necessary to balance the tartness of the berry without making the vinegar taste sugary.

The color is a deep dark red to violet, so dense that the vinegar looks almost black in the glass. The consistency is slightly syrupy. In dressings, it adds color – lamb’s lettuce with black currant vinegar looks as if red wine had been poured over it.

Those who know fruit vinegar as light and summery will find this one too tart. It is an autumn and winter vinegar. And for those who shy away from sugar, it should be noted that this variety contains the most – even if you cannot taste it due to the tartness.

Duck, game, porcini risotto, and Rote Grütze

This black currant vinegar is at home in warm cuisine. A splash in the sauce for duck breast, venison saddle, or game ragout, just before serving – the berry provides the fruitiness that one might otherwise add with lingonberries, while the acidity brightens the sauce. It harmonizes particularly well with a clove added to the sauce base. A teaspoon at the end of a porcini risotto is a trick that Fruchtwerker themselves recommend.

In salads, it belongs with bitter greens: chicory with walnuts and blue cheese, radicchio with orange segments, or a classic tomato-mozzarella where the dark berry complements the basil. The dressing: one tablespoon of vinegar, three tablespoons of walnut oil, salt, pepper. For salads with duck breast, this is the dressing featured in Fruchtwerker’s recipes.

Use sparingly for desserts: half a teaspoon in Rote Grütze (red fruit pudding) or over dark chocolate; the tartness underscores the acidity of the fruit. Those looking for a milder dark berry should reach for the Blackberry & Vinegar; those who prefer it even darker and wilder, for the Blueberry & Vinegar.

Good to know: The vinegar stains heavily – wipe up immediately from light-colored wood and textiles. Add to sauces only at the end; if boiled for a long time, only the acidity remains.

A recipe from the Fruchtwerker cookbook: Salad with duck breast and black currant dressing. Pan-sear the duck breast until pink, slice and place on lamb’s lettuce, top with a dressing made of one tablespoon of vinegar, two tablespoons of rendered duck fat from the pan, and one tablespoon of walnut oil. The berry and the duck fat together achieve what an otherwise hour-long reduced sauce would.

For a cheese platter, it is the dark alternative to honey vinegar: a few drops on blue cheese or a robust mountain cheese. It is not suitable for mild cheeses or anything white, however – all that remains is the color, which is undesirable there.

Ten days in vinegar, because black currants need time

Fruchtwerker cold-soaks whole fruits in vinegar, and how long depends on the fruit. Apples release their aroma after four days; black currants need ten. Matthias Hüttmann decides this based on experience rather than a table. The fruit remains cold during this process – heat would accelerate maceration but cost flavor. The liquid is only boiled down with sugar after pressing.

The black currants arrive fully ripe from European cultivation, as regional as possible, supplemented via a Hamburg dealer from Germany, Poland, or Serbia. Fruchtwerker generally avoids fruits from overseas. The berries are blast-chilled after harvest so that the manufactory can work with the same quality throughout the year.

The fruit content here is 15 percent, below the range average of 25 – black currants are so intense that more fruit would make the vinegar unpleasantly tart. The process dates back to the raspberry recipe of the farmer Emma near Ratzeburg, which Hüttmann took over in 2008 and produces today in Talkau with around 300,000 bottles per year.

The vinegar for dark cuisine

This vinegar is the variety chefs grab first because it works in sauces. For people who enjoy slow-cooking, it is the most useful vinegar in the range – one bottle lasts for a winter full of roasts.

As a gift, it suits those who cook game or duck, or anyone who finds raspberry vinegar too sweet. Together with the blackberry and blueberry vinegars, it forms Fruchtwerker’s dark trio – three berries, three degrees from tart to wild.

A fruit vinegar made from black currants, ten days in vinegar – for duck, risotto, and salads with bitterness.