A unique cross of Gooseberry and Black Currant.  It produces clusters of deep red to almost black fruit.  The fruit is smaller than a gooseberry and a bit larger than a blackcurrant.  It is described as having a taste intermediate between a gooseberry and a blackcurrant, with the gooseberry flavor more dominant in the unripe fruit, and the blackcurrant notes developing as the fruit ripens. Ripens in July.
 
The plant displays hybrid vigor, growing and fruiting well and being resistant to a number of common diseases afflicting other Ribes.  In particular the plant is resistant to American gooseberry mildew, black currant leaf spot, white pine blister rust, and big bud gall mite. 
 
Flowers are hermaphrodite and the plant is self-fertile following insect pollination. Propagation is usually by cuttings, rather than by seeds.  This plant is cold-hardy, long-lived, thornless, and productive once established.
 
Debuted in 1977. The name “jostaberry” itself is a combination of the German word for blackcurrant, “Johannisbeere” and for gooseberry, “Stachelbeere”.