Gooseberries are my absolute favourite thing. They are a wonderful all rounder – beautiful looking fruit  with a sweet and sour punch. They are perfect with sweet and savoury and go brilliantly with duck. They work well in desserts. You can’t beat a gooseberry fool, compotes or chutneys.

Red Gooseberries

Gooseberries go well with heat, chilli, ginger and elderflower. In the restaurant, we used to do a gooseberry fool then I used to put lemon thyme through the cream then you get that floral strong thyme flavour but sweetened.

You can really do a lot with them. You can make a nice chilli and gooseberry jam. You get white wine vinegar, honey and apple juice and cook down. That will go very well with strong cheeses. You could use the fruit as a glaze for duck. I tend to sear my duck in the pan. Once that is coloured add the glaze to the pan and stir and coat. The problem with putting a glaze on in the oven is it runs off and burns.

Or you can flash fry them with a little bit of water, sugar or honey to serve with the meat. Alternatively, try poaching gooseberries in a nice vanilla stock.

Gooseberries

Why are gooseberries so underrated? I think it’s to do with the fact what they are so seasonal. They are just a short window. We as a nation get far too excited over mangoes, pawpaws, varieties of melon or Sharon fruit.

0 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read More