Goosegogs

[redshift]

We have a gooseberry bush, which this year has surpassed itself, and today was relieved of >9kg of fruit.   

Sadly, I'm not that keen on goosegogs.  Mr shifty likes them in crumbles, and a couple of other people we know will get some, but very few people seem to like them these days:  That still leaves substantially more than we can comfortably fit in the freezer.

After a bit of umming and aahing, we came to the conclusion that the only real use for umpty-ump kilos of gooseberries is to mash them in a polythene tub, with a couple of gallons of water and sugar, and some yeast.  In about a week I'll move the must into demijohns, and sometime about the end of August they'll be ready to rack and start clearing.

This time next year, we should have a dozen or so bottles to sample.   

[Torslanda]

Inspired! 

<Ford Prefect>

I'm not touching another drop of your filthy elderflower stuff until we're safely off this planet . . .

</Ford Prefect>

[clarion]

I hate gooseberries.  I've never liked eating the sour hairy little things.  And I hated having to pick them off the prickly bushes when I was a kid.

But I have to admit that my dad's gooseberry wine was good.

[citoyen]

Lunch last weekend: Smoked mackerel, gooseberry jelly, horseradish and soda bread. Divine. The tartness of gooseberry jelly is a perfect foil to the oily fish.



I had that in a restaurant and don't know that I'd be up to recreating it, but gooseberry sauce is easy to make and equally good with smoked mackerel.

d.

[Wowbagger]

We've had a bumper crop of gooseberries this year as well. They're wonderful! We've made a load of jam, eaten lots of crumbles and there's still plenty in the freezer. Our three bushes' yield was similar to Redshift's on a per-bush basis.

[L CC]

As wildlife vermin eat anything everything I plant attempt to grow have in my garden clearing, I've had to buy gooseberries.

But we have jelly.  Nom.

[FatBloke]

I love gooseberries. Just don't see 'em in the shops anymore. 

Gonna buy me a bush!!   

[andrewc]

I love gooseberries. Just don't see 'em in the shops anymore. 

Gonna buy me a bush!!   

Local fruit barrow sells them in small punnets for £2 a go!   Love them, but they seem very hard to find in useful quantity unless you grow your own, and that's not really an option in a 4th floor flat!