Gooseberry jam

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I didn’t know the taste of gooseberries before we moved here. We bought a house that came with three complimentary gooseberry bushes. You don’t often find gooseberries in stores, because they have a limited shelf life. But their taste makes them a favourite addition to both food forests and gardens. We’re very lucky that the people we’ve bought the house from, cared for them as well.

Gooseberry bushes are thorny and like most plants, can be pruned in late winter. The harvest usually starts in July. The ripe berries are softer than they look on the outside – I’m sure there’s a metaphor in there.

Recipe

This is my own recipe, but most jam recipes are easy and quite similar.¹ If you haven’t been able to harvest too many gooseberries, this is a handy recipe to supplement them with banana.

Ingredients

• 500g gooseberries
• 350g banana
• 800g jam sugar
• Lemon juice

(adjust the quantities proportionally to the weight of the gooseberries)

Preparation

1. Sterilise enough jam jars beforehand in a separate pan, by boiling them.
2. Clean the gooseberries, remove the crowns, stalks etc. Bring to the boil in a pan with a little extra water.
3. When the gooseberries have burst open, take the pan off the heat and pass the mixture through a sieve (optional, if you do not do this you will get a jam with more chunks).
4. Cut the banana into thin slices and add these to the gooseberries, add the jam sugar and lemon juice and slowly bring to the boil. If necessary, you can use a masher or hand blender to get the banana smoother faster.
5. Let the mixture boil for 5 to 10 minutes and pour it into the jam jars.

I really like the combination of flavours and hope you do too. Or try gooseberry-elderflower jam, as suggested by Eric on the Fediverse.