Fruit
Ben Lomond
S tier
Ben Lomond is a Scottish-bred commercial black currant—productive, late-midseason, with large firm berries suited to machine harvest and juice factories. Flavour is classic musky-tart rather than mild; colour runs deep for cordial and concentrate. Bushes are upright enough for modern orchard systems in cool climates. Primary destination is processing: Ribena-style drinks, jams, and frozen pulp. Fresh market appears in farmers’ markets when fully ripe. Hang time past peak can dull aromatics—pick for processing windows carefully. A benchmark UK cultivar against which newer Bens are judged.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Ben Lomond was released from Scottish Crop Research Institute breeding.
It became a leading UK processing cultivar for juice.
Export of plants and genetics spread Ben Lomond to other cool regions.
Despite newer cultivars, Ben Lomond remained a processing reference.