Chinese Gooseberries

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 927, 17 May 1957, Page 32

Chinese Gooseberries

HINESE gooseberries are no longer a novelty fruit, but have a regular place in our diet, and rightly so. They rival the orange in their richness in vitamin C. Children enjoy them as much as we do and like to trace the pretty pattern which the cut slices show. These gooseberries are not ready to be eaten until they are soft, but yet must not be over-ripe. Their delicate, distinctive flavour holds its own even in fruit salad, especially if the slices afe arranged across the top, The pulp scooped out and added to a fruit salad of orange and apple (no bananas) makes a lovely combination. When making up a red jelly try decorating the top, when just setting, with these slices-very pretty and a delicious flavour. A grower has sent me some good recipes and ideas for using Chinese gooseberries just lately, with full permission to include them in our Listener page, so here are some, together with those from cur Daisy Chain. Bottled Chinese Gooseberries A special flavour may be added to these with passion fruit or fresh pineapple. Have large, firm ones. Wash them first, to remove the hairy outside, then peel them and again wash in a colander to make sure no outside furriness remains. Have ready your pan of boiling syrup in the proportion of 2 cups of water to 1 cup of sugar, boiled together till clear (probably 10 minutes). Now put in the peeled whole gooseberries and let them simmer gently till soft, watching carefully, Also have ready a quantity of passion fruit pulp gently simmering in a small saucepan-no water, just the scooped out pulp. Now take each hot sterilised jar and about half-fill with the boiling gooseberries, then pour in a Jittle simmering passion pulp, then fill up to overflowing with more gooseberries and seal each one immediately. Work fast. The passion fruit will work through the gooseberries without stirring which would cause delay in bottling. To make a change from passion fruit flavouring add a fresh pineapple (not canned),, chopped up and sprinkled with sugar, and then brought to the boil fora few minutes and added still simmering to the boiling gooseberries, as described for the passion pulp. In Desserts 1. Try them just peeled and sliced, then well sprinkled with lemon juice and sugar to taste. Cream (not ice cream) completes this dessert. 2. Try a Chinese gooseberry tart made in a shallow dish; have the crust fairly thin, and the gooseberry slices well sprinkled with lemon juice and a pow; dering of sugar; or make little tarts in patty tins. Unusual and quite pleasant. 3. Chinese goosebetries, peeled and sliced thickly, stewed gently in a little water with a squeeze of lemon or orange juice, to be eaten with junket or an egg-custard. With Ice Cream Arrange peeled slices over dishes of plain ice cream, Sundae (with ginger): This is quite a special. Make a thick cooked pulp of the gooseberries, put a good serving in individual sweet-dishes or custard cups, and cover with ice cream; sprinkle with finely-chopped preserved ginger, A spoonful: of the ginger syrup from the

jars of Chinese preserved ginger, poured over all, makes this sundae very distinctive. Many people pre-

fer to have the gooseberries uncooked and just mashed to a pulp, for the foundation. Chinese Gooseberry Cake This is one of the recipes sent by the grower: For an afternoon tea party here is a cake that looks pretty and tastes delicious! Two eggs, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, ¥% lb, flour, % Ib. butter, 4 16. sugar, Cream the butter, add sugar while continuing to beat, add the eggs, then the sifted flour, gradually, and with the last spoonful add the baking powder. Put the mixture into two

well-greased and floured sandwich tins and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven (360 degrees). Filling: Mash uncooked Chinese gooseberries, sweeten them with icing sugar and spread them between cooked layers of cake, Icing: Cream 1 to 2 oz. of butter, beating well. Add just sufficient colouring to tint the icing pale. green and a little milk if necessary to obtain a spreading consistency. Smooth the icing on the top layer of the cake and decorate it with slices of Chinese gooseberries. The fruit should be peeled and cut with a stainless steel or silver knife or it will discolour. Jewel Salad Another of the grower’s recipes: Frozen strawberries may be used, or raspberries. Or, if you need the salad at once and have not the opportunity to procure frozen fruit, you can. use preserved raspberries, loganberries, or cherries. The ‘salad consists of fresh pineapple, bananas, strawberries, oranges and Chinese gooseberries. Cut the pineapple into chunks, slice the bananas and divide the oranges into sections. Squeeze the juice from a lemon and pour it over the fruit, add the strawberries or raspberries, etc., as mentioned above; blend all together. Reserve plenty of gooseberry slices for covering the whole top of the finished salad. If the fruits have not enough juice to make enough syrup for a fruit salad, boil a tablespoonful of honey (or sugar) with a cup of water, cool it, and pour over the salad. Chinese Gooseberry Jam Cut gooseberries in half, scoop out pulp. Cover bottom of pan with water. Add fruit pulp and boil till cooked. Then add % Ib. sugar to every 1 Ib. pulp. Stir till dissolved and boil till it will set when tested. Vary by cooking in lemon juice and water, Chinese Gooseberry and Orange Jam Four and a half pounds of Chinese gooseberry pulp, 4142 Ib. sugar, juice and