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