Gooseberry

Originally a wild fruit, growing naturally in the cool, moist, high regions of Northern Europe, thorny little gooseberry bushes were introduced to Britain in the thirteenth century. And while in England their popularity led to breeding larger and sweeter dessert varieties, in Scotland the hardier wild variety prevailed. They were named after the French ‘groseille’ rather than the English gooseberry and became known as ‘grosets’ or ‘grosarts’. They thrived well in the cool, moist Scottish climate. So much so that on the isles of Orkney and Shetland, where no trees survived, gooseberry bushes were to be found in every back yard and it was said that when the people read in their Bibles of Adam hiding among the trees, the only vision they could imagine was of a naked man cowering under a thorny groset bush.