The Queen of Berries

[steepholm]

Today I picked my first crop of gooseberries...



This morning, on the bush...



Harvest Home! Here is the entire 2013 crop...



It wasn't enough for a proper gooseberry updside-down pudding, but it occurred to me that I could make a batch of small ones...



Cooked, but not yet upside-down:



Pleasingly inverted:



They tasted excellent. Next year, I hope for a larger-scale operation on the same lines:



I shall spare you tomorrow's dissection of the stools in pursuit of undigested gooseberry seeds, but feel free to imagine it over your civet coffee.

Comments

[kalypso]

I have had results like this:



leading to this:



but sometimes unknown parties beat me to stripping the bush and I get nothing.

[steepholm]

I went to extreme lengths to prevent that this year.

[kalypso]

I saw, and was deeply envious; I got some netting from the garden centre this year, but nothing so sophisticated, and I haven't worked out how to fix it yet.

[nixwilliams]

Do you have a recipe? I just bought some gooseberries from the local market...

[steepholm]

Sure. This is for the proper pudding, not my improvised version. It can be scaled up or down, though. First, you make a sponge mix (3 large eggs, 6oz each of self-raising flour, caster sugar and butter with a half a teaspoon of vanilla essence - all beaten together).

Melt 3oz butter in the dish (ceramic or oven-proof glass) you're going to use for the pudding. Stir in 3oz demerara sugar. Sprinkle with 1oz chopped walnuts and 12oz gooseberries. (I halved mine but that was only because I was doing everything by thirds - it's really better to keep them whole.) I don't know whether you've cooked with gooseberries before, but if not don't forget to top and tail the goosesberries first - i.e. snip the ends off with scissors.

Spread the sponge mix over the top, and put in oven at Gas Mark 3 (150C) for 50-60 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool. Ease it out onto a plate, upside down. Eat cold, with cream of whatever takes your fancy.

I know this seems like a lot of sugar, and you can probably reduce it if you want, but not too much.

[jadelennox]

OM NOM NOM.

My gooseberry isn't flowering this year but I'm just relieved it's alive and looks healthy. Last year something ate Every. Last. Leaf. and if it has to spend this year rebuilding strength more power to it.

[steepholm]

My thoughts are with it.