Gooseberries

[Jenise]

I had never seen a gooseberry until I moved to England, it's just not, either in sensibility or climate needs, the type of fruit you find in Southern California where I spent most of my life.

And I was not enamored of the fruit once introduced. A bush grew in the yard of the 1800's house we rented, so I got multiple retries, but I ended up leaving the little green orbs for the neighbors to pick. Fast forward two decades, and I'm living in the Pacific Northwest and see a beautiful gooseberry bush at the nursery that will give forth red, not green, fruit, and I buy. The huge courtyard on the north side of the house was being redone then, and since more than ever I'm enamored of edible landscaping, so on the fly it seemed like a good idea. But my landscaper planted it in the wrong place--in the middle of, rather than the edge of, my intended herb garden. Stupidly, I left it there, and with time it was in the way of more important growing things so I pulled the plant.

Well, yesterday I was grooming the herb bed and lo and behold, I found some non-herb little seedlings coming up. They're only an inch long at this point, but the fuzz of someday-thorns on their miniature stalks made it unmistakably clear who and what they are. And rather than toss them, I moved them to another pot to grow.

This morning, I'm asking myself why. Beyond any quasi-noble ideas about plant rescue and feeding the earth lies the obvious question: what in the world will I do with this fruit? In England, they were always cooked and then used in a cold creamy dessert of some kind--exactly the kind of food I detest. There is, basically, no need in my kitchen for any fruit that is unpleasant to eat raw or use in savory preps.

Any ideas?

The newer varieties of gooseberry are much more interesting than the small, tart old standard. Many can be eaten fresh as they are sweeter and have some very interesting flavors. Pies and preserves are the standard but the sweeter ones make interesting garnishes for salads - think pomegranate. Pickled they make a nice addition to savory dishes and the pickling vinegar is very interesting for vinaigrette.
I'm growing some of the new varieties from One Green World including the Jostaberry - cross between black currant and gooseberry. The few I got last year were very interesting. Not enough to do much with except a tantalizing taste but good enough to keep nurturing.
If you don't have a lot of room I'd recommend two of the newer varieties.

what in the world will I do with this fruit?

Feed them to neighbors' children who you'd rather not come bother you again.

I stand in defense of Gooseberries. But I admit my reasons may be more of sentiment and philosophy than culinary or taste based. First, they are an obscure fruit and have a kind of underdog status - they are hard to find here, and I'd be willing to bet that most people who use "gooseberry" as a descriptor for wine haven't tasted one. We had a gooseberry bush on our property when I was young, and my mother, who was Scottish, would sometimes make things from them like a gooseberry fool (just an excuse to eat whipped cream a friend of mine says) - probably what Jenise has in mind when she describes "cold, creamy desserts I detest." I also like them because the are so tart, and I love to cook with tart things. Because much of my baking is fruit pies, that's where most of my own first hand experience lies. I use them as I often use rhubarb, as much as a flavor enhancer as the main event, almost like a spice, anytime I want to add tartness. You could use them in most any fruit pie to make them more interesting Yes, they take some effort to pick over and clean, but I love them anyway. Give gooseberries a chance!

I too love gooseberries, but I understand why people do not because they do have that acid flavour twist, similar to rhubarb.

We don't get enough* to want to do anything other than to top & tail them, put them bowl and top with crumble and stick in an oven. Yummy.

I like raw gooseberries, but they need to be ripe. When ripe they are soft and their skin goes translucent. Crumbled you can mix ripe with less ripe.





* last year something stripped our two small bushes of every single gooseberry the day/night before we were to pick them.

[Jenise]

The gooseberry plant I had (and will have again) was planted in the early fall and surprisingly prolific the next summer, and the berries were quite sweet--better to eat out of hand than I remember the green ones in England being (the old home we rented there had a bush). Probably one of those new world varieties Christina mentions. I probably picked a quart the first year, but the problem was that was while we were under construction and I had no kitchen to cook in. Sadly, I shopped my harvest around to various friends but no one would take them.

Love the idea of a crumble, Peter.

And of course, without gooseberries (and cats) how would we describe typical Sauvignon Blanc?