Gooseberries

I have just picked my first crop of ripe gooseberries.

My gooseberry crop

They have that wonderful combination of sweet sharpness, which I look forward to at this time of year. I have four bushes, three inherited when we moved here and the forth given to me by a friends lovely mother-in-law who wanted it re-homed. I love the generous spirit all gardeners seem to possess, whether it is with knowledge, seedlings or plants in need of a new home. Gardening is the best leveller, opening doors to a vast range of interesting and lovely people whose company you’d not normally get the chance to share.

Sadly some of the gooseberry branches have been stripped of leaves all munched by hungry gooseberry sawfly, I had a good look for the culprits but couldn’t see any of these caterpillar looking bugs. Hopefully they’ve turned into flies and decided on a different location to reproduce!

Gooseberry branches stripped of leaves by the gooseberry sawfly!

My kitchen garden bibles are Nigel Slater’s ‘Tender’ volumes I & II.

My much loved and slightly battered kitchen garden bibles

I love diving into these tomes that list fruit and vegetables alphabetically, giving growing tips, varieties and recipes. When I read Nigel Slater, I hear him talking to me in that beautifully descriptive, informative and accessible way that he has. I turned to Gooseberries in his Volume II, to seek out a quick recipe for our supper:

Gooseberry and Elderflower

400g Gooseberries toped and tailed

4 tbsp Water

2-3 tbsp Honey

1 Elderflower

Pop ingredients in a pan, bring to a gentle boil and cook until the gooseberries have split, it takes about 10 minutes. Take out the Elderflower and eat hot or cold. It was delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.