Sunday, July 27, 2014

More JellyPegs!

Even though the local farmer's market had more red and black currants for sale this weekend, I decided to try something different.  We have quite a few Missourian Gooseberry shrubs growing in our garden, and this year was a bumper crop for the fruit.  Normally, they are just left for the birds and other critters to enjoy, but I decided why not use them to make a small batch of homegrown, home-made jelly.  I was also going to use some Pineapple Mint from the garden to give it a flavour boost, but "Pineapple Mint" is a misnomer - I tasted neither mint, nor pineapple.  "Cat-pee Greens" would probably be a more appropriate name, and no, I have never tasted cat pee, but I can only imagine. Glad I tried some before adding to the jelly.  The one thing about picking your own is that the shrubs are covered with many long and short thorns, so I came up with a system to avoid pricking myself.  I would find a long branch with lots of fruit on it, hold it vertical by the end, and just grab the berries one by one.  It was surprisingly efficient. I picked a mixture of very ripe, somewhat ripe and green Gooseberries, so I would have a good mix of pectin, acid and sugar, and basically followed the same recipe from last weekend. The colour and taste was beautiful, but it took a long time to jell, and is still quite runny, so if I do it again, I will be sure to add more green fruit (more pectin) and boil it longer.


Missourian Gooseberries, in the wild, i.e. the garden.
Beware of thorns,  just under the leaves!
Double, double, toil and trouble.

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