This ain't Europe, Constance . This is a Growers market. Currents were fuckin' dead as disco. Currents comin' back in a big fuckin' way. It's this whole 1870's retro. Bustles, Currents, they're as hot as hell. :)

I love currents, always have. I didn't know bout the pine rust until I started researching Currents while starting my own garden. My Grandparents have always grown them in Sourthern Ontario. Not sure if we had the same restrictions here, probably though.

They are an aquired taste, but worth it as the flavour is powerful. Just don't get to diabetic levels with the sugar, a light sprinkle will de-pucker you enough to enjoy the flavour.

I loved currants and currant juice since first tasting them as a young bridge on a trip to Europe. We tried to grow them, but my husband absentminedly mowed the bush with the lawnmover.

Currants are a component of the summer dessert, "Rote Gruetze". Red Groats? I seem them in the stores for about a week in the summer, and then they're gone, like the mowed down bush.

One can still enjoy currant jam and current jelly which can be found even in fairly pedestrian markets.