Somewhat to my surprise I found a crop: 
The birds usually strip the stalks, and I’m not sure why not this year, unless the thickets were too thick even for them. Or, of course, unless a neighbourhood cat has taken to lying in wait under the bushes. In which case, it’s about time I had something back in return for the smells and scratched up seedlings. I also saw a magnificent dragonfly (which I could not photograph before it soared) and this damselfly (which let me get a shot). 
Jul14
Minutiae 
Mmm, currants. As pretty as rubies, and a lot tastier. (I assume they are, anyway – I’ve never tried to eat a ruby.)
Yes, I always see that jewel-like quality too. And redcurrant jelly has to be the prettiest of all preserves with its pure transparent glow (British sense of jelly).
Um, are we talking about what you get by cooking fruit juice with sugar? That’s the U.S. sense of jelly too.
Do you have jam then? I always thought jam was called jelly across the pond, but maybe I got the wrong end of the stick.
Yes, we have jam – the difference here is that jelly is made with juice, and jam is made with crushed fruit. (And then there are preserves – they’re almost indistinguishable from jam, but preserves have bigger chunks of fruit in them. The apricot jam / preserves / whatever in your post a few days ago looked to me like it was going to end up as what I would call preserves.)
Aha 🙂 – well that is exactly the same then, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard jam mentioned in a US context, which is why I’m confused. And yes, the one I was making is designed to include really big pieces of fruit, so maybe I can rate it as ‘preserves’.
Your red currants are miles ahead of mine, Mrs P. Mine are white and sickly looking. Another example of the North-South divide, I expect.
The slightly longer milder days seem to make a huge difference sometimes.
I used to go picking blackcurrants with my Mum in August during the summer holidays… 🙂
Did you enjoy that at the time, or is it just the glow of nostalgia? (I notice nobody mentions picking gooseberries with nostalgia!)
LOL Well you had to be careful… those bushes could be prickly… but it was a case of looking forward to it and then being bored after about thirty minutes LOL We picked berries from the bushes right by the runway for Luton Airport, so we got distracted pretty quickly LOL