Gooseberry Harvest Scoops

As you know I'm always making or tinkering with something, and my berry harvester I made last year is no exception. It was great for berries and currants, but for gooseberries the extra fingers were a little pointless.

So I decided to start designing it again, but like I'd never seen a normal berry harvester. 

So I went to the workshop with some design criteria and started making....

Gooseberries

 It's funny how the hot days of July can almost make you completely forget about the cold of winter, not that the one we just had was particularly bad. 

But I think a lot about winter during these hot days. I think about the abundance of summer and about preserving food for winter and spring. Of course this is still on a small scale, and would not be enough to see us through, but it all helps. 

July brings lots of soft fruit. Just two years ago I put in 10 extra gooseberry bushes and 10 blackcurrants and they have produced in abundance this year. It's incredible how much they have cropped. 

The gooseberries have been super sweet and perfect for snacking on raw (the kids take them to school as snacks). But I have also used some to flavour a vodka liqueur and put some with salt to create their own brine to make a salty and sharp berry that I'll then dehydrate. Some have gone into the freezer to be used later as well. 

I've kept on with the canning. Using the water bath method I have canned 15 jars of gooseberries to sit beautifully on my shelf and be used for pies and crumbles later on. 

The children have also used them for baking. I came in the other night and the boy was top and tailing some while his sister made a banana muffin recipe - gooseberries to be used in the place of chocolate! 

Sharp and sweet at the same time, they go amazingly well in baking. It makes me wonder why they have fallen out of favour over the years? Is it the processing time of topping and tiling them? Or have tastes changed so they're too sharp for most modern palettes? These cakes were incredible and we'll be making them again! 

I have about 3kg left that I've just picked this morning, it's the last of them and I think they'll end up in the dehydrator for long term storage. I love them like this, they taste like super sharp sweets and are very moreish! 

What's your favourite use for gooseberries?

Dehydrated Gooseberries

The other night my younger daughter came wondering up from the garden without her skirt on. 

She'd taken it off to carry all the gooseberries that she had picked from the one huge gooseberry bush we've got that's producing (we have ten young bushes that aren't quite there yet). 

 I thought that was using her head, but also thankful that the neighbours couldn't see! 

When I planted a lot of soft fruit last year a big part of it was thinking about more dehydrated fruit. I love having it on my breakfast and last years damsons and plums has been incredible and so full of sharp flavour.

So I'd planted 10 gooseberry bushes without really checking to see if they dehydrate very well! Luckily this little experiment confirmed what I thought - they are awesome. After 24 hours at 57 degrees they came out every so slightly chewy and tasting like one of the best sour sweets you've ever eaten. They're almost too sour, but you have to go back for more! 

I imagine in my breakfast these are going to taste ace! 

While the dehydrator was on I also did about 4 trays of cherries and one with some bananas that were going over. 

Anyone else dehydrate gooseberries? What's your favourite dried fruit/treat?