I don't think I like Gooseberries

[diggernotdreamer]

I used to eat the gooseberries in my Nanny and Granddads garden and I remember liking them. Last year, I decided to plant my own bushes and got some red and yellow hinnonmaki. They grew really well, not as ripe sweet as they could have been but my fruit hasn't done well up here this year. I made some into jam and it was really horrible, it seemed to have great big pips in it, yuk and it was a bit crunchy. Is this normal, or have I got the wrong kind of gooseberries, I suppose it must be over 50 years ago that I actually ate a gooseberry, so now I am thinking of digging them up and giving them away

[Flo]

If you’re going to cook with them, look for slightly under ripe – but not rock-hard – berries. For eating raw, choose berries that yield to the touch, and are juicy. You can check before picking can't you?

Have you tried making something like crumble to see if that is as bad as the jam?

Do you think that it's the year that has affected the harvest and next season might be better?

Can you grow and exchange for something else with other neighbours and friends?

[diggernotdreamer]

I picked them all off the bushes as the blackbirds were starting to eat the red ones, they were all just under ripe, they never actually ripened fully. I will make a crumble and see what happens. Thanks Flo

[Green Aura]

I'm not knowledgable about that particular variety but have got experience of small gooseberries with large pips! I think, in my case, it was too little water ( mine were in pots at the time)in a dryish summer.

My experience of making jam is that the gooseberries went from uncooked to burnt in short order, so I've never tried again. I'm sure with larger quantities of fruit it wouldn't have happened but I was just trying to use what the birds had left us.

[diggernotdreamer]

I wonder if the heat was to blame for that, they never really ripened properly, we went from boiling hot to cold. I had two disasters, I over cooked the jam so it was stiff and pippy and put some in the oven to cook for a crumble and ended up at my gate talking to a neighbour and when I rushed in, it was cremated. I will try again, there's loads in the freezer for endless failed experiments

[Flo]

Maybe it's gooseberries don't like you DnD

[diggernotdreamer]

I had considered that, and if that is the case I will give the ungrateful buggers away

[fruitfly]

Hi, I grew a red Hinnomaki, tried them off the bush and they didn't taste like gooseberry should, so at the least, the flavour might be the problem. I had a gooseberry bush on the allotment that was already there so I don't know what type it was, but it was the usual sort. And it was delicious, not to mention dangerous to pick them, but worth it. They were as big as grapes and pleasant to eat when fully ripe. It grew very well without my attention, producing lots of fruit, which makes me wonder why the Prince's tinned ones are so small and not as tasty.

[elfcurry]

I do like gooseberries. I'm hoping for a decent crop this year but I have a problem; I have one massive gooseberry bush which has grown over several years and each year produced almost nothing and I threatened it each time with being dug out and burnt.

Two years ago it did produce a decent crop (10lb -ish ?) then in 2020 it got a gooseberry sawfly infestation which speead to at least one other bush. It was covered in tiny stripey caterpillars which devoured most of the leaves. Not wanting to use chemicals, I picked of hundreds (thousands?) of the tiny bastards and disposed of them. The crop was pretty poor but I did make one gallon of wine, the last of which remains. My other bushes are smaller including one much older which has produced well in the past) and since in the last year I spent significant amount of time getting rid of brambles and weeds in the fruit plot, I even discovered several gb bushes of which I was only vaguely aware.

Anyway, back to the problem: this one bush is about 2m tall with a great number of branches and thousands of tiny fruit. It sticks out sideways and while not 2m wide it is partly blocking a path and access behind it. Should I prune it to encourage it to produce bigger fruit which will be easier to pick and use or is it too late? How brutal can I be? One concern is that when picking it will be hard to get to the centre due to thorns.

Now I've got the hang of making (honestly, quite decent) white wine from gooseberries, I want to make good use of it and I may even eat some or freeze for later in the year. One of the small bushes last year produced modest-sized red fruit which were so sweet and soft they were easy to pick and very nice to eat as they were.

[Flo]

I think you need to learn to prune the bushes care of gooseberries or a shorter version

Can be prickly so do have strong gloves and sharp pruners. It's fun. The main idea is to keep the centre of the bush open to air and sunlight. Have fun.

[elfcurry]

Thanks for the links Flo. The RHS one looks simple to start with but I had to read it a few times and will again to understand. There's more judgement and counting than I expected!

[Flo]

Yep gooseberry pruning is an art learned - with well protected hands and wrists and arms.

[Viper254]

No gooseberries for me this year; removed the elderly bushes over winter (bindweed central) and the young ones aren't fruiting quite yet.