Praise to the delicious gooseberry
Gooseberries are among the most underestimated among the summer berries. In addition to strawberries, raspberries or currants, they often have a shadowy existence at the fruit stand – and quite wrongly! Because plump, ripe gooseberries, which burst open at the first bite and then fill your mouth with their wonderfully sweet acidityare one of the great summer delights every year. We are therefore praising the gooseberry.
Small product knowledge around the gooseberry
Despite its name, the gooseberry has no thorns at all, but rather thorns. And these are not found on the fruit itself, but on the branches of the shrubs. They want to prevent us from picking the ripe berries from the plants – with moderate success! Because if you pay a little attention during the harvest, can safely pluck gooseberries straight from the bush. And it's worth it: gooseberries are rich in vitamin B and vitamin C, but also in potassium, calcium and magnesium.
The range of fruits ranges from green and yellow varieties, which we usually know, to white and red berries. The harvest time is between June and August. Gooseberries can be harvested both ripe and unripe. Then they ripen. Immature fruits that are still really green can also go can be used particularly well for boiling down.
If, on the other hand, you want to eat or process the gooseberries raw, it is better to use plump ripe berries. They are particularly sweet and aromatic. You can recognize good berries by the fact that the skin looks particularly fresh and plump. If you can't use them right away, store them side by side in a bowl or on a plate in the fridge for up to a week.
Danger: Very large amounts of unripe gooseberries can be toxic. In commercial quantities, however, there is no danger.
Extend the summer
If you want to enjoy the fruit out of season, you can also freeze the gooseberries. The fruits don't even have to be completely ripe for this. If you freeze them just before they reach maturity, it’s less likely to burst open.
You can freeze the berries both sugared and unsweetened. First wash the fruits and then in a saucepan with boiling water briefly blanch. Now take the fruits out of the pot and dust them with sugar if necessary. Ideally, the ratio of gooseberries to sugar is 5: 1. Now pour the fruits and sugar into a freezer bag or a freezer-safe container and freeze them.
The berries are the best choice very close to each other and not on top of each other. Alternatively, you can shock freeze the gooseberries on a plate to prevent them from sticking together. Only then pour into a freezer bag and store.
Bake with gooseberries and cook
If you don't want to snack on the sweet and sour fruits right away from the bush, you can do the gooseberries in the kitchen amazingly versatile use. The obvious ideas are gooseberry cake and gooseberry pie, as well as jellies, chutneys and jam with gooseberries. Our gooseberry chutney, for example, goes well with fish and meat with its sweet-sour yet slightly bitter aroma.
In general, it is worth taking gooseberries too to try in combination with savory ingredients. Our recipe for cheese bread with raw gooseberry compote is the best proof that this is a very good idea. Because the mildly aromatic cheese meets an equal partner in the sugared gooseberries. Otherwise we are mainly inspired by sweet gooseberry recipes. Particularly unusual: our gooseberry meringue cake with bandel leaves.