At French-Canadian farmer’s markets, berries are displayed in quaint pale bentwood baskets so that they look like they were plucked straight from the forest. Probably by a bright-eyed pink-cheeked French Canadian girl who resembles Heidi (if you don’t believe me, by the way, pictures of berries in said baskets appear in almost every tourist guide they produce in Quebec). Thus, berries are that much more impossible to resist.
I had never eaten a gooseberry, but they intrigued me. They look like tiny translucent watermelon and had an old-world Northern country feel, as if all the delight of it actually being warm in a place like Sweden was transferred into that summer berry. They are quite beautiful, and never having had a gooseberry, we bought a few; I rinsed them and put them in a little bowl, then plucked one delicately, rolled it between my fingers, and popped it into my mouth. And oh man, was it sour. Like, eye-watering sour. I don’t remember if I swallowed or spit it out but either way, it wasn’t a great experience.
Now I’ve come to understand that one doesn’t eat gooseberries raw (you can and I’m sure people do in the same way my Nana liked to suck on raw lemons) but stews them in sugar water with elderberry to make gooseberry fool (stewed fruit folded into whipped cream). And that’s not even all that common–if you search “gooseberries” on Martha Stewart’s website–which is encyclopedic–you won’t get that many hits, none of them will be recipes, and one will advise to use gooseberries as a garnish. But I am told that with a little sugar, the berries take on a lovely sharp-honey taste. Or, you can use them in a savory dish–I think a chutney would be marvelous.
Filed under: Clean Food Daily, berries, fruit, gooseberries
