currant: dried fruit of a seedless variety of grape grown in the Levant, much used in cookery; red, white, black ~ fruit of Ribes. Derives from raisins of Corauntz (ME) as in modern French "raisins de Corinthe". OED

And in my opinion are wizened hard pellets, prone to sticking out of whatever you are cooking and burning to carbonised ball bearings. They are OK if well soaked and contained within something, as in Garibaldi biscuits or dry fly pie.

The charms - we used sixpences, in lieu of silver threepenny bits, and because of the risk of leaching, Mum left them to the last minute before serving, stuck a knife in the pud and inserted the coins. We've still got the last ones from before decimalisation! When we were small, it was enough to go and spend on goodies. Mum always made sure we got one each.

Penny