Gooseberries in a Steam Juicer

There are many varieties of Gooseberries. The fruit of those grown in England can be much larger than our US varieties. They do well in our colder Northern states, and different kinds mature to be red, yellow or green. They tend to be rich in pectin, and a jelly recipe for half raspberries and half gooseberries needs no pectin added to set. By growing gooseberries, you can save on buying liquid pectin products. The fruit from each variety will all ripen about the same time. They are thorny bushes, so leather gloves will come in handy at harvest time.

These tart berries are just getting ripe in mid...

Today I made juice out of four pints of berries. It took two hours, and to be certain the Steam Juicer didn't go dry, I added more boiling water to the bottom vessel. This is twice as long as other berries, and longer than apples, which need to cook thoroughly before they give up their juices. The yield was two pints and 6 ounces. That is a little over 50%, where as most berries will produce around 75% as much juice as the whole fruit you start with. Because the seeds are still in whole berries, the last 5-10% of the juice extracted may have a strong off flavor. If you can smell it at all, discard the the juice from the end of production.

Gooseberries are used in recipes for mixed jams and jellies. Boiled with plenty of brown sugar it can be made into a thick glaze for Pork or other Roasts. We also add an ounce or two of our bottled juice to flavor a mug of Tea, or simply drink it like any other juice.