Here Come the Gooseberries

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 952, 8 November 1957, Page 32

Here Come the Gooseberries

7 the earliest of the summer fruits. They have so many nore uses and are so much *heaper than the luscious cherries and strawberries, which come in about the same time, that we should really devote a good deal of thought to them. They have also a high vitamin C content which is well retained even when preserved. It is said that one average serving of cooked gooseberries will provide half the daily requirement of vitamin C, and bottled gooseberries are ‘useful for adding to other fruits all the year round. Though often sharp, they have not a very distinctive ‘aste, and they are wonderful for adding to jams which are hard to set, like strawberry or blackberry, because they supply the necessary acid and pectin without spoiling the flavour. The juice is generally used for this purpose. Gooseberries are useful for pies, puddings (both baked and boiled), in many cold desserts, jam and jelly, chutney and sauce. Bottled gooseberries can be used for most of the following recipes. of are among

Gooseberry Cocktail One lemon, 2 cups of bottled gooseberries, sugar to taste (unless the gooseberries were bottled in syrup), a few bottled cherries or raspberries to decorate. Rub the bottled gooseberries to a puree through a sieve. Add the strained lemon juice. Put in sundae-glasses with a bottled cherry or raspberry on top of each and chill. If the rims of the glasses are frosted with coloured sugar this looks most attractive. Bottled Gooseberries Gooseberries are easy to bottle and very good in winter for pies and steamed puddings. A pie of a mixture of bottled gooseberries, red and black currants and raspberries, with their juice, is delicious. Bottle gooseberries when mature, but not fully ripe, or skins tend to burst, spoiling appearance. Top and tail, wash well. Use stewing method (in boiling syrup, then ladled into hot sterilised jars, sealing each immediately it is filled), or fill into sterilised jars, cover with hot or cold syrup or water (syrup is much better), and sterilise in waterbath, covered, for 30 minutes after reaching boiling point. Gooseberry and Apple Pie Apples soften gooseberry tartness without spoiling flavour. Make syrup first (1 cup sugar to 2 cups water, boiled together 3 to 5 minutes). Put in topped and tailed gooseberries and apples cut in chunky pieces-half and half or as you wish. Don’t have: too much_ juice. Simmer till tender, but not squashy. Let cool in saucepan before putting into pie dish. Cover with short or flaky pastry and cook in hot oven. Or make a sponge crust and pour over fruit while still boiling. | SPONGE CRUST: 1 egg, pinch salt, | 1 oz. butter, 1 breakfast cup flour, 1 teacup or less of sugar, 2 tablespoons milk (or more), vanilla if liked. Beat eggs and sugar, melt butter with milk and add. Sift in flour, etc. Pour over hot fruit. Hot oven, about 20 minutes. Gooseberry Fool This makes sour gooseberries bland and sweet. Cook the gooseberries, to a pulp-say, 1 Ib. gooseberries with %% Ib. sugar and nearly 1 cup cold water. Push pulped fruit through a sieve and when cold, add 1 cup whipped cream, mixing

well. If not green enough add a few drops of green colouring. Instead of cream, you may use a custard made with custard powder to which has been added

@ spoonful of sweetened condensed milk; or you may use all unsweetened condensed milk, which whips easily if chilled, and which makes the best gooseberry fool of any. Gooseberry Tart Half cook a short pastry shell in pie plate. Have ready 1 cup stewed whole gooseberries. Drain berries. Take 1/2 cup of the liquid, add 4% cup milk and bring to boil. Stir in 1 teaspoon of custard powder dissolved in a little milk or liquid. Cook and stir til] smooth, adding Sugar to taste. Cool slightly, beat in 1 egg. Place berries in the half-cooked shell, sprinkle with sugar, pour custard over them. Bake in moderate oven about 20 minutes. Serve hot or cold. Gooseberry Delight One pound gooseberries, 1 packet jelly crystals, whipped cream, sugar and cinnamon. Top and tail gooseberries, stew with 2 tablespodns sugar, a little water and a little powdered cinnamon. When tender, rub through a sieve, let cool, Place puree in glass dish. Make a red jelly according to directions, and before it is quite cold pour it over the gooseberries. When set, decorate top with blobs of whipped cream.

Gooseberry Pie (Plain) Line a 9-inch pie plate with flaky pastry. Cook 3 cups gooseberries covered with 3%4 cup hot water 5 to 10 minutes, or till tender. Combine 114 cups sugar, 6 tablespoons flour and 1% teaspoon salt, stir this into the gooseberries. Cook, stirring until thickened. Remove from heat. Cool. Heat oven to 450 degrees (regulo 8). Pour gooseberries into the lined pie plate. Cover with top crust, fluting the edges, and make 2 or 3 small slits to permit steam to escape. Bake in hot oven (450 degrees or regulo 8) for first 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees (regulo 4) for about 35 minutes longer. Gooseberry Bread Custard Cook till soft 4 cups gooseberries with 144 cups sugar and 1% cup water. Then add 114 cups soft breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons butter, 1% teaspoon salt and 3 well-beaten eggs, saving 2 whites. Pour into a dish and bake in moderate oven about 20 minutes. Make a meringue with the 2 egg whites and 2 tablespoons icing sugar, pile it on top of the pudding and return to oven to set and brown. Serve with cream or custard, Gooseberry Pudding (2 eggs) Two cups of stewed gooseberries, 1 tablespoon of gelatine, 1% gill of cold water, 2 egg whites, 6 oz. of sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 2 egg yolks, % pint of milk, 2 oz. of sugar. Soften the gelatine in the cold water for a few minutes. Add 1 cup of hot fruit juice to dissolve the gelatine. Add the 6 oz. of sugar and stir until it has all dissolved. Allow this mixture to cool. When it shows signs of thickening whip it with a rotary beater. Whip the egg whites stiffly and stir them into the gelatine mixture. Stir in the remainder of the fruit and lemon juice and pile the mixture in a glass bow! or individual dishes. Make a custard with the 2 egg yolks, 2 oz. sugar and 42 pint of milk. Beat the yolks, add the milk and sugar and stir fLcontinued an next nade)

(continued from previous page) in saucepan over boiling water until it coats the spoon. Pour custard over the pudding. Gooseberry and Apple Fluff One pound of gooseberries, some sugar, 1 pint of milk, ¥% Ib. cooking apples, 2 eggs, ¥2 oz. gelatine, vanilla flavouring. Trim and wipe the gooseberries and place in a saucepan with a little water, cooking gently until tender. Add sugar to taste and set aside till cold. Peel and slice the apples, stew them and pass through a sieve. Place the gooseberries in the bottom of a glass dish and pour over them the sieved apples. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Beat up the yolks with the milk and stir over a low heat until thick. Add the soaked gelatine and sugar to taste, then fold the whisked whites into the mixture and add the vanilla. Pour over the fruit and allow to set.