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Currant-centered workshops offer hands-on experiences

A series of workshops before and during the third annual Far North Currant Festival will give participants hands-on opportunities to learn about, cook with and taste currants. 

The festival itself is a free, family-friendly event from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23. It celebrates currants (Ribes spp.), delicious, nutrient-packed berries that thrive in Fairbanks’ sub-Arctic climate. The festival is organized by the ¾«¶«Ó°ÒµAgricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. The festival and all workshops will be held at the Georgeson Botanical Garden Pavilion on the ¾«¶«Ó°Òµ Troth Yeddha’ Campus.

The workshops are:

• Black Currant Flavor Experience (guided taste-testing)  — Wednesday, Aug. 20, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Currants have flavors unlike any other berry. Lily Hislop, the black currant breeder for the Savanna Institute, will guide participants through a taste test, from the basic building blocks of flavor through identifying aromatics. $25
• Currant Propagation — Thursday, Aug. 21, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Pat Holloway will lead a hands-on workshop and share the secrets of multiplying currants by taking cuttings and rooting them. Participants will leave with a propagated cutting and a bonus currant plant. $30
• Berry-Infused Luxury DIY Lip Balms — Friday, Aug. 22, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Participants will learn to make homemade lip balm in this hands-on workshop by blending natural beeswax, healthy oils and currants with Mallory Smith, garden manager for Alaska Harvest Collaborative. Participants will take home lip balm. $40
• Black Currant Flavor Experience (guided taste-testing) — Saturday, Aug. 23, noon-1 p.m. Currants have flavors unlike any other berry. Lily Hislop, the black currant breeder for the Savanna Institute, will guide participants through a taste test, from the basic building blocks of flavor through identifying aromatics. $25
• Cooking Healthy with Currants: Bison Meatballs with Currant Jelly — Saturday, Aug. 23, 2-3 p.m. This workshop will explore a delicious and nutritious way to prepare currants in a savory dish. Taught by Alaska chef Flora Deacon, participants will learn how to make bison meatballs with currant jelly and have the opportunity to taste the final product. $25
• Cooking with Currants: Currant Curd with Meringue — Saturday, Aug. 23, 4-5 p.m. Chef Lianne Peryea, production chef at Stone Soup Cafe in Fairbanks, will teach participants to make mini pavlovas topped with a currant curd. Attendees will take home a jar of curd. $30

Register for each class separately using the or visit. Learn more about the Far North Currant Festival .

Currant breeder Hislop will also present a free webinar on Tuesday, Aug. 12, from noon-1 p.m. on currants, why they were banned in the United States for 55 years and what their future looks like. Register at .

For more information, contact Katie DiCristina at kmdicristina@alaska.edu.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made five business days in advance to Alda Norris at amnorris2@alaska.edu or 907-474-7120. Language access services, such as interpretation or translation of vital information, will be provided free of charge to individuals with limited English proficiency upon request to amnorris2@alaska.edu. 

This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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