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  • Fooling Around With Gooseberries

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    Gooseberries are a fruit indigenous to Europe and Asia that are in season from mid-June to late July. They like warm, sunny locations and were first introduced to new areas as the Romans became nomadic. One of the earliest printed recipes using gooseberries from 1727 instructed threading them onto thread to look like hop flowers for table decoration. More recently, the oldest surviving gooseberry competition has been held annually in England since 1800, with records of gooseberries weighing over 35 drams. The document then provides a recipe for gooseberry chutney that combines gooseberries with sugar, vinegar, onion, and spices.

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    Gooseberries are a fruit indigenous to Europe and Asia that are in season from mid-June to late July. They like warm, sunny locations and were first introduced to new areas as the Romans became nomadic. One of the earliest printed recipes using gooseberries from 1727 instructed threading them onto thread to look like hop flowers for table decoration. More recently, the oldest surviving gooseberry competition has been held annually in England since 1800, with records of gooseberries weighing over 35 drams. The document then provides a recipe for gooseberry chutney that combines gooseberries with sugar, vinegar, onion, and spices.

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    18 views2 pages

    Fooling Around With Gooseberries

    Uploaded by

    api-154794678
    Gooseberries are a fruit indigenous to Europe and Asia that are in season from mid-June to late July. They like warm, sunny locations and were first introduced to new areas as the Romans became nomadic. One of the earliest printed recipes using gooseberries from 1727 instructed threading them onto thread to look like hop flowers for table decoration. More recently, the oldest surviving gooseberry competition has been held annually in England since 1800, with records of gooseberries weighing over 35 drams. The document then provides a recipe for gooseberry chutney that combines gooseberries with sugar, vinegar, onion, and spices.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Fooling around with Gooseberries Gooseberries, feaberries or goosegogs as they are affectionately called are in season from around

    midJune till the end of July and come in four different colours red, green, yellow and white. Apparently known to grow in gooseberry patches and more morbidly on gravestones, though these are never cultivated, they are indigenous to Europe and Asia and it is believed that gooseberries were first introduced by the Romans and started to grow in new areas as the Romans became nomadic. They like a nice warm sunny location and are sometimes cultivated on hedges, although many types of gooseberries will grow as far north as the Arctic Circle. The earliest printed recipe using gooseberries dates back to the Georgian period and can be found in Elizabeth Smiths The Compleat Housewife ( London: 1727) and was for counterfeit hop flowers. Elizabeth used thorns to impale her gooseberries into hop flowers but this is somewhat dangerous, especially if the guest got one stuck in their throat so below you will find a safer and wiser version. The method for this dish was to split the gooseberries in four but keeping them intact at the stalk end and then removing the seeds. The split gooseberries were then threaded onto strong thread using a needle, five or six at a time pushed inside each other, the end result looking like a hop flower. These were then layered between vine leaves in spring water and blanched twice, each time bringing up to the boil from cold and each time being left to go cold in the same water. You then drained the gooseberries and made a thin syrup, one pint of water to a pound of common loaf sugar. When the syrup was half cold the gooseberries were placed in it and stored till the next day. Continue to give the gooseberries a boil a day, in the syrup, for three days. After three days make another syrup using one pint of water to a pound of fine sugar, a slice of ginger and some lemon peel sliced very fine. Place your gooseberries in this syrup and give one final boil. When the gooseberries are cold, place into sterilised jars and seal with brandy paper; brandy paper was writing paper soaked in brandy and was used to seal the jars before the invention of the screw top Mason jar. Quite a lot of work you must admit for what was ultimately used a table decoration!! Although I wont be giving you my spin on counterfeit hop flowers, though feel free to try the above recipe out, I have chosen instead a very tasty recipe for gooseberry chutney, so give it a whirl.

    Geasegogs like bantee eggs!!! Established in 1800 and the oldest of nine surviving competitions, the gooseberries at the Egton Bridge old gooseberry society show are said to be huge. The competition is held every year on the first Tuesday in August at St Heddas schoolroom and the informed gossip whispers, if true, talk of breeding bushes being talked to, fed on secret fertilisers and generally sheltered and cosseted. Competitors are advised to bring a few spares just in case the chosen specimens suffer untimely bursts!! Prizes are awarded for the best of four colours, the heaviest six and twelve and twins. The world record holder at the moment is Mr Bryan Nellist (see picture below) with a whopper woodpecker gooseberry weighing in at 35 drams, beating Kelvin Archers previous record by just over 2 grains: (27.34 grains = 1 dram; 16 drams = 1 ounce) Other weird and wonderful names for gooseberries are Thatcher and Kitchner!!

    Gooseberry Chutney Makes 1 kilo Ingredients: 1100g Gooseberrys 450g Caster sugar 215g White wine vinegar 200g Spanish onion finely chopped 1 Teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 Teaspoon ground ginger Juice and zest of 1 orange 1 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds Method: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Top and tail the gooseberries and place into a pan with all the remaining ingredients Bring to the boil and then simmer gently until you have a kilo of chutney. Place the hot chutney into freshly sterilized jars and seal. Leave the chutney to cool then label and refrigerate. Store for 1 month before using to allow the flavours to develop.

    Note: The amount of sugar will vary depending on the sweetness/sourness of the gooseberries, so adjust the sugar content accordingly. If they are sweet keep to this amount of sugar.

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