Gooseberry

Lore & Background

The word first appears in written English in the 16th century. The Oxford English Dictionary takes the literal derivation from goose and berry as probable. The French for gooseberry is translated as 'mackerel berries', due to their use in a sauce for mackerel in old French cuisine. In Britain, gooseberries may informally be called goosegogs. Gooseberry bush was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are 'born under a gooseberry bush'.

Reader's Guide

Gooseberries are edible and can be eaten raw, or cooked as an ingredient in desserts, such as pies, fools and crumbles. Early pickings are generally sour and more appropriate for culinary use. Gooseberries are also used to flavour beverages such as sodas, flavoured waters, or milk, and can be made into fruit wines and teas. Gooseberries can be preserved in the form of jams, dried fruit, as the primary or a secondary ingredient in pickling, or stored in sugar syrup. Pastry dishes often pair gooseberry with flavors such as hazelnut, honey, raspberry, strawberry, and white chocolate. Raw gooseberries are 88% water, 10% carbohydrates, and 1% each of fat and protein. In a reference amount of 100 g, raw gooseberries supply 44 calories and are a rich source of vitamin C (31% of the Daily Value), with no other micronutrients in significant content.

Did You Know?

• Gooseberry bushes (Ribes) are hosts to magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata) caterpillars.
• Gooseberry plants are also a preferred host plant for comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album), whose larvae frequently feed upon the plant during the development stage.
• Gooseberries, like other members of genus Ribes, are banned or restricted in several states of the United States because they are secondary (telial) hosts for white pine blister rust.