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The Latest in Our What is It and What Do You Do With It? Series
Ah, berry season. Strawberries, on which we in the Chicago region have feasted over the past few weeks, are about over, but we're now digging in to blueberries, raspberries, black raspberries, blackberries ... and gooseberries?
OK, that last one has a smaller fan club than the rest, and not that many growers produce them. But Nichols Farm & Orchard — which I call the one-stop farmers market shop because it's the region's largest diversified produce farm — does.
So what is a gooseberry, and what do you do with it? Here we turn to The Spruce Eats website and an article published there in 2022:
"Gooseberries are from the same family as currants, and range in size from half an inch to about an inch in diameter. They can have a smooth surface or a slightly fuzzy exterior, the translucent skin sometimes featuring stripes, sometimes not. The berries come in a variety of colors, including yellow, red, pink, green, and purple, and the darker the color, the sweeter the taste. The berries are sold with a 'top and tail,' which are the stem and the flower ends respectively, and have a center filled with small seeds." [Editor's note: The top and tail should be removed before eating.
"Gooseberries are naturally tart, so the best ways to use them involves cooking them with added sugar to make pie fillings, jams, syrups, preserves, cobblers, jellies, and sauces... (T)hey do sweeten somewhat as they ripen. Compared to the green gooseberries, the red and purple varieties are significantly sweeter, and they take on a winey, grapelike flavor as they ripen. In general, gooseberries taste like a sour grape, or a bit like rhubarb, which is itself highly prized in baking and desserts, but on its own is too sour for most people's palates."
I like the tartness of these berries, and generally eat them out of hand. If you have tried them, go to the Let's Connect section at the bottom of the page or email me at bob@localfoodforum.com and let me know what you think.
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