According to Richard Mabey's book 'Food For Free' - There is a widespread belief that wild gooseberries are bird sown from garden varieties..........but the species is almost certainly native.......The history of the gooseberry's domestication from the wild to dessert fruit is one of the most extraordinary stories of vernacular plant breeding. Cultivated gooseberries were not known until the C16 but by the end of the C19 there were as many as 2,000 named varieties. The improvement was due almost entirely by the ingenuity of amateur growers, especially in the Industrial Midlands, who were spurred on..........by annual competitions.
The first money I ever earned was by picking gooseberries.......I would have been about 13 at the time, it was on a fruit farm in the next village to where I lived. The farmer, Mr Noy was terrifying, he got really cross if we had any leaves in our buckets.
There were a few gooseberry bushes at the smallholding when we moved in and they were always a good seller, so we added several more. I spent hours picking punnets full every June. By the time we had to move away I think it was well over 100 x 500g punnets every year and I tried to make sure there were never any leaves included!
Two gooseberry bushes were planted here two years ago when we arrived and last week I picked most of the fruit off. It came to 3lb and I'll use some to mix with strawberries to make jam. The combination works well as long as the gooseberries are cooked separately until they are really pulpy and soft. The strawberries are cooked a little, then the fruit mixed together before the sugar is added. The finished jam is red and tastes like strawberry but sets well without needing pectin.
There's still some fruit left on the bushes to clear later. Hopefully they'll be enough to make a couple of jars of Gooseberry and Date Chutney to give away.
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Sue
We only ever planted gooseberries once... They went all mouldy so we just chucked them out.
ReplyDeleteMildew can be a problem on gooseberries in some places.
DeleteI've always had a few bushes here too, but they don't yield terribly well - need feeding more I suspect. I shall I be picking mine soon. Gooseberry and Date Chutney sounds good. I am loathe to try chutney making again as the vinegar fumes do NOT do my chest any good.
ReplyDeleteI've squashed the bushes into the fruit bed. I need to prune them properly this autumn.
DeleteColin used to moan a lot about the smell from chutney making but when I'm making it I don't notice it!
I agree with Bovey Belle and might try making Gooseberry and Date Chutney.
ReplyDeleteI use white wine vinegar because I can't eat anything with malt vinegar in it.
I make chutney in small amounts, 2-3 lbs, in the microwave.
It produces fewer fumes in the atmosphere that way.
It also means I avoid being spat at!
No idea where the belief that babies came from under gooseberry bushes originated.
I thought it was just something that people said to ward off awkward questions!
Sue
What a good idea for chutney making. Luckily the cooking vinegar doesn't affect me
DeleteMmmmmm memories of gooseberries as a kid. In England babies are found under gooseberry bushes? In the US you find babies under cabbages! Remember the cabbage patch kids dolls? Aloha
ReplyDeleteUnder a gooseberry bush is what children used to be told when they asked where babies come from - didn't know it was cabbages in US - good to know
DeleteRe babies: according to QI, the alleged reason is a little bit rude. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/qi/4736383/QI-Quite-Interesting-facts-about-costermongers.html (but QI makes almost everything rude) The French call them groseilles a macquereau - mackerel currants. Which is interesting, because goosegogs make great sauce for oily fish. Why are they called goosegogs?
ReplyDeleteWhen I had gooseberries for sale at the smallholding I often wrote Goosegogs on the board as 'Gooseberries' wouldn't fit. Someone stopped and asked for Goose eggs as they had read it wrong!
DeleteI have fond memories of helping my Mum with picking the soft fruit she would sell them to the local greengrocers in the little punnet boxes, Sweet memories.
ReplyDeleteHazel c uk
Love gooseberries - don't have any here - just not enough room.
ReplyDeleteI remember picking blackcurrants at the same age, locally there were fields of them, i don't like the taste of blackcurrants, but grow them for hubby. Everytime I smell them, it takes me back to my childhood, I earn't loads at picking time, I never ate any.
ReplyDeleteI remember calling them goosegogs too and way back in my childhood my friend's uncle called them eyeball twisters for some reason. Our gooseberry bushes were here when we moved in 28 years ago but they unfortunately all died off a year or so ago. Old age perhaps?
ReplyDeleteOur two bushes have been rubbish this year due to our super dry spring weather I think. We too called them goose hogs. I also picked black currants, 10d per bucket.
ReplyDeleteI love gooseberries, husband hates them. I'm not keen on the spikes on the bushes either! Can you get spineless ones, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteGooseberries are part of my childhood food memories. We had a couple of bushes at our home in West London. I've never see them sold in US markets.
ReplyDeleteI love gooseberries....gooseberry anything really.
ReplyDeleteLike Cherie, we never had any luck with gooseberries. The jam sounds nice, I made rhubarb and strawberry jam last week (I always add the juice of an orange).
ReplyDeleteGooseberry jam is a family favourite and specialty. Best jam in the world !Just plain gooseberry !They are not easy to come by here in the subtropics.
ReplyDeleteLoving the sound of gooseberry and date chutney.
ReplyDeleteWe don't see a lot of gooseberries here in Ontario anymore, so my husband and I planted a bush a few years ago (since removed because it was very thorny and infested with some kind of bug). But I did manage to have enough to make your gooseberry and date chutney and it was delicious!! I put some in my mum's Christmas box and she said it was "to die for". Now I'm thinking I may need to search some out. Love your blog, but don't believe I've commented until now.
ReplyDeleteHello.... I love comments from people who've never commented before and comments from people who often comment.
DeleteAlthough I don't always get around to answering.
Hope you find some gooseberries to make the chutney, it's so dark and delicious
I rarely see gooseberries for sale on the fruit stalls on our market - not sure why. My favourite fruit pie has always been gooseberry pie - you can't beat it.
ReplyDeleteOoh! Gooseberry and strawberry jam sounds delicious. My gooseberries are just beginning to ripen but sadly the strawberries are nearly finished so will have to be gooseberry jam on its own.
ReplyDeleteNow I love gooseberries...but hubby not a chance...we have grown some before but more often than not the dreaded gooseberry sawfly would come along and decimate the poor plant overnight. x
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any gooseberries for years! The jam sounds really lovely. Will you give some away at Christmas?
ReplyDelete