Mark Diacono

Gooseberries

Appears in
top 1000A Year at Otter Farm
A Year at Otter Farm

By Mark Diacono

Published 2014

  • About

Gooseberries (mixed varieties)

  • Site Shelter, sun, well drained
  • Harvest May-August
  • Notes Berries form on short spurs from 2-3-year-old wood, so prune (in winter) to snip out older wood to leave a good mix of 1-3-year-old wood. Open goblet shape is ideal to allow light and air in
FIRM, SHARP AND DELICIOUSLY SOUR in May and early June, then tender and sweet a month later, gooseberries are two of my favourite fruit.
As with apples, they are often separated into cookers and eaters - sharps and sweets - but in reality, most varieties will sweeten beautifully if left on the plant to enjoy more sun. Even for a sour-lover like me, the very earliest are best eaten cooked - try one raw and see how wrinkled a face can turn. The late-picked berries are a different proposition altogether: sweet, juicy and flavoursome straight from the bush.