Saturday, January 23, 2010

Gooseberries?

My buddy Ben gave me a handful of gooseberries, a small fruit which I had never had before. They remind me of tiny tomatillos with their papery husk. The texture is not unlike a grape tomato, but the flavor is both pungent and sweet. I think it could work well in a sweet or savory dish. My initial thought is to make a parsley, cucumber and gooseberry salad, but I'd love to hear some of your ideas before I dive in.

5 comments:

Jeremai said...

I've only ever had them as dessert - when I was in England they cook them down with sugar to make a puree and then fold in equal parts whipped cream. Delicious!

Michael Hughes said...

fun little fruit. It actually is in the same family as tomatillos. Don't you think they taste exactly like sauvignon blanc? I would go for a cocktail! Gooseberries, gin & ginger syrup.

Anonymous said...

Those look like husk cherries to me (also known as cape gooseberry, husk tomato, ground cherry, etc) They are a annual (self-seeding, like tomatillos...miss one and there are tons of volunteers). An actual gooseberry grows on a bush and is in the same genus as currants.

laputain said...

woah! if you eat in the UK you will get a fright if ever you order gooseberries! We think of them as these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gooseberry whereas I'd call what you've pictured a physalis or a chinese lantern (wikipedia Cape Gooseberry and it redirects here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis_peruviana)

in any case I can only really imagine them as a side to desserts, but tomato style salad sounds inspired!

Mother (Re)produces. said...

Ok. should have read this post before i commented on the post above...