Sunday, July 23, 2006

cooking gooseberrys

three photographs compressed into one, the long border looking like it self seeded with no design, which is in fact how it is. don't know what to do with it! my usual view of it is end on. .

this is as far as the new path has reached. black membrane being held down by bricks until the stones arrive.
cabbage 'minicole' sucess
giant pumpkin failure, a few like this and some which look ok.

picked from Billy's garden, I am just off to the shop for double cream and condensed milk to make 'gooseberry fool', I can feel my artery's hardening just thinking about it, yum!!

6 comments:

Lowa said...

I don't think I have ever had any of these.

What do they taste like?? What do they look like inside?? They look squishy and kind of like grapes.

Wildside Musing said...

Oooooh! I LOVE a berry Fool! Or a fool for berries -- which is me, BTW.

But would have never thought of doing one with gooseberries. We have them native here and they always tasted a bit strange to me.

Let us know how this turns out! :-)

Michael said...

We had a row of gooseberry bushes at a place my parents used to rent during the summers when I was young. We loved them, but now they're hard to find, I'm not sure why. No one seems to grow them anymore. In any case, I'd love a helping of 'fool', but I suspect by the time I get there, it will be gone. Pity... Where's Scottie to beam me over when I need him?

clairesgarden said...

Lowa, they taste quite bitter if not completeley ripe, slightly sweet when totally ripe, very juicy. inside they are pale green and the seeds are soft so you just eat them too. quite acidic too so unrestrained eating will bring on major indigestion! now I think about it I don't know if I have ever seen them in supermarkets, they have a quite short season so maybe its just a homegrown thing?
Wildside, just to be totally correct they are Ribes Grossularia, if thats what you have growing wild. some varieties are toatally bitter, even the dessert ones always have a tartness to them, hence the need for condensed milk, or lots of sugar. they make great jam.
Michael, I think you'll find even beaming isn't quick enough, its nearly gone! gooseberrys suffer badly from 'American Mildew' so maybe it makes them uneconomical to grow. they are hardy and I think Billy takes cuttings and disgards the old bushes every few years so they should be ok for a home grower.

Lowa said...

I just saw this now. Thanks for explaining to me!

I kind of thought of them as bitter or acidic. I wonder if I have had them and that is why???

Kerri said...

Mmmm, they look delicious! I like tart (sour) things. I don't remember ever eating them (I may have as a child) or seeing them over here.
Sorry about your pumpkins but I see by the 'Pumkin takes over' post that you'll still have some good ones. Your vege garden must be doing well. All the veges you're harvesting sound wonderful. Our tomatoes are looking good, but still green. Our pole beans are doing really well and we're eating bush beans. Love fresh beans!