Black Currants have fair amounts of Vitamins A and B, and are loaded with Vitamin C. Most people prefer to use these berries cooked in jellies and preserves or fresh when included as an ingredient in ice cream, yogurt and sorbets. Their unique flavor makes them a much sought after ingredient in sauces used for glazing meats, poultry, and fish. 

This shrub shows the only instance of a process by which double flowers may become single, by changing petals into stamina. It has a solitary, one-flowered peduncle at the base of the raceme, and its leaves are dotted underneath. 

It was not so popular originally as the Red and White Currants, for Gerard describes the fruit as being 'of a stinking and somewhat loathing savor.' 

The berries are sometimes put into brandy like Black Cherries. The Russians make wine of them, with or without honey or spirits, while in Siberia a drink is made of the leaves which, when young, make common spirits resemble brandy. An infusion of them is like green tea, and can change the flavor of black tea. Goats
eat the leaves, and bears especially like the berries, which are supposed to have medicinal properties not possessed by others of the genus. 

Here are a few links to more information about Black Currants:
http://www.hursts-berry.com/bccrepe.html
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/curbl131.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/ribame/value_and_use.html