Have you ever tried a gooseberry? Before coming to New York and finding them at the farmer’s market on Union Square, I had only heard tell of them in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where the “gooseberries [wallpaper] taste like gooseberries, and the schnozberries taste like schnozberries.” Still haven’t gotten to try a schnozberry… but after tasting a gooseberry, I fell in love with the flavor, incredibly tart when uncooked and with the bursting juiciness of a grape.
Cooking them only makes them more luscious, so I thought that I would share my recipe for gooseberry jam with my neighborhood friends at the greenmarket. The lovely Avery, who runs our local Tribeca Greenmarket, invited me back to do a demo on how to make and can jam this past Wednesday. That day at the market we made sour cherry jam (recipe next week), but we had my gooseberry jam out for tasting. So many people wanted to taste that jam since, for most, it was the first time they had tasted a gooseberry in their lives.
Surprise! The jam tastes a bit of watermelon but much tangier or, as one taster remarked, like a fruit roll-up. So, do not just admire them from afar any more. Go and pick up a few pints of gooseberries from your own greenmarket and spend some time with your mini-chef making a delicious little jam this weekend. Happy Friday, Yums!
Mother Gooseberry’s Jam
*2 pints of gooseberries (about 4 cups) , woody and wispy bits removed
*3/4 c. local honey
*juice of half of a lemon
*2 t. pectin powder***
*2 t. calcium water***
Wash and prepare your gooseberries with your mini-chef. Make sure that you discuss what color they are now since a bit of magic will happen in the cooking process. Place the berries into the large, heavy bottomed pot in which they’ll be cooked. Then using your hands or a wooden spoon, smash them well. Do not puree since you will want a nice jammy texture with bits of the berry. Stir in the lemon juice.
Stir the pectin powder into the honey, and set it aside.
Bring the berry mash to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring and scraping the bottom and sides of the pot to prevent scorching. Boil for 5-7 minutes. Add the honey-pectin mixture and the calcium water and stir vigorously for a minute. Turn off the heat and can in sterilized jars with proper lids immediately.
Fill each jar 1/4-inch from the top. With a clean, wet kitchen towel, wipe around the lip of jars, making absolutely sure that no jam residue remains. Place the lid on top and screw the band on tight-but not super duper tight. Place another clean kitchen towel down on your counter.
When you have finished closing a jar, flip it over, lid side down, and leave it for about 5 minutes. When you flip it back over, the pop-top should seal in and become concave for the canning to have been successful. Discuss what happened to seal the lids and what color the jam turned while you enjoy some jam and toast with your Yummy.
***Both the pectin and the calcium to make the calcium water are packaged together with the instructions on exactly how to use them. They can be found at your local health food store.
