Caseille

This has been a poor year for fruit.   The strawberry crop is way down and there are few varieties in the market.   A series of frosts after a balmy February put paid to the local cherry and plum harvests.   I had three pears on three trees   -   until the birds took them.   There are plenty of imported peaches and nectarines (brugnons) for sale, but little local fruit except melons.   A highlight of today's market was a stall with a selection of bush fruit, mainly raspberries, blackcurrants and blackberries.   New to me were punnets of caseilles.   Known elsewhere as jostaberries, they are from a bush that is a hybrid of gooseberry and blackcurrant.   The fruit are sharp, like blackcurrants, but larger.   Memo to plant some bushes in the autumn.