Gooseberry Fool
Andy Ayers of Eat Here St. Louis has offered a bit of info on how to prepare the gooseberries, and also a recipe for Gooseberry Fool, which you’d be a fool not to try.
Preparation
Wash the berries and remove the stems and tops with scissors before eating or cooking. To cook them put the prepared berries in a pan with a little water and 1 tbsp sugar per 100g (1/2 cup) fruit (taste, and add more sugar if you need it once the fruit has softened). Cover and cook gently for 10-15 min until soft. Once cooked, the gooseberries can be used in sweet dishes and for savoury sauces.
Gooseberry Fool is one of the classic summer recipes for gooseberries. For this dish, make the puree as above, sieve to remove pips if you wish, then fold through whipped cream, using 250ml (1 cup) gooseberry puree to 250ml (1 cup) cream (measured before whipping). If you’re really clever, like Andy, you’ll add a little zing of Elderberry Cordial or Elderflower Cordial to the whipped cream.