Friday, July 31, 2009

Funky Food: Gooseberries

Funky Food #1: Gooseberries

Should you try them?
Yes! at least ask to try one.

Where to find them:
Farmer's Markets

Where I work, we sell and sample a
lot of fruit. Our most popular sample item is the gooseberry. Gooseberries are "sweet-tart berries." As a fruit they are sort of like a mix of a grape and a kiwi; they have the size, texture, and skin of a grape, but the small negligible seeds, hair, and tang of the kiwi. The tastes are somewhere in between.

They are without a doubt, an acquired taste. Some people find them too sour. Like most fruits, gooseberries get sweeter as they ripen, but the line between sweet and ripe to sweet and alcoholic is pretty slim. While there are a lot of different gooseberry varieties, the most common difference, from what I've seen, is green versus red.


Red:
Usually higher sugar and higher acidity than green, darkens in its color as it ripens. Best for eating, jams, or baking. My favorite summer snack food.

Green:
These go from a bright, yellow-green to a more translucent and darker skin as it ripens. A much milder berry than the red ones. The green gooseberries are the most commonly found variety. Great for things like gooseberry fool.

So, go find them! Gooseberries are only in season for a little bit more (sorry, this is late)
.

6 comments:

  1. I love gooseberries! We used to pick wild ones in India. It was cool. They're also good dipped in chili powder and salt— thought that's definitely not for the faint of heart.

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  2. I saw your gooseberry picture on Tastespotting and I'm so glad I clicked on it! Great blog and very interesting! :)
    P.S. I {heart} gooseberries!

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  3. Hey Chris! This is very interesting about gooseberries, I've never had them before. I must try them, though. I think I've heard that it makes a good jam or something, though.

    Anyway, I was just recently tagged to blog about 6 things that make me happy, and I am tagging you now. I was going to contact you via email, but I couldn't find your email on the site. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that your blog makes me happy, and I hope you continue to do great things with it.

    Stay beautiful!
    Moxie

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  4. Hey! I love goosberries, though they're not very common in the states my latvian grandparents in canada grow them in they're backyard (omnomnom- free goosberries)and made a mean jam out of them.

    Lauren

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  5. @Arthi, that's such a cool idea! I will try that combo.

    @Jill, thank you! And, I'm glad you're a fan of gooseberries.

    @Moxie, =)

    @Lauren, yummy! I wore a Latvian Stroop Test Shirt yesterday =P

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