Gooseberry Puree

We have a lone gooseberry bush in the garden and the gooseberries are all ready at once. If you are like me, you might not have time to use them there and then.

So you can freeze them and use later.

Or you can make them into a puree and then freeze half of that too.

Weigh the gooseberries and divide by 7 to get the right amount of sugar. e.g. For 500g gooseberries, use 70g sugar.

Gooseberries, topped and tailed
Caster sugar (1/7th of the weight of the gooseberries)

Put the gooseberries in a pan with a tablespoon of water and sugar (if using defrosted gooseberries, don’t add any water). Cook over a medium-low heat, stirring to help the sugar dissolve, until the gooseberries are soft and just a few of them have burst. This should take only  minutes. Puree with a handblender, cool and then use or freeze.

So, what to do with the puree? You can swirl into greek yoghurt, use as a sauce for barbecued mackerel or make Hugh Fernley Whittingstall’s Gooseberry and Ginger Biscuit Layer.