The image, above, shows a wild gooseberry bush, (Ribesuva-crispa) on the left. The right hand panel shows wild
gooseberries, top, in comparison with cultivated gooseberries,
centre and a red fruit variant, bottom..
| Common Name: Gooseberry |
| Scientific Name: Rumex alpinus |
| Other Names: European gooseberry |
| Family: Grossulariaceae |
| Range: Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia south and east to N. Africa, Italy and the Caucasus. |
Physical Characteristics
Ribes uva-crispa is a hardy deciduous shrub, growing to 1.2m (4ft) by 1m (3 ft 3 in) in size. It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. The shrub flowers from March to May and the fruit ripens from July to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by insects. The plant is self-fertile.
|
| Edible Parts: Fruit, Leaves |
 Edibility Rating: 5 
|
 Known Hazards: The leaves do contain hydrogen cyanide, though at relatively low levels. The level of hydrogen cyanide decreases with cooking or heat treatment and a considerable quantity of leaves would have to be consumed to be harmful.
|
Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Gooseberry along with all the Gooseberry containing recipes presented on this site, with 29 recipes in total.
This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Gooseberry as a major wild food ingredient.
The gooseberry, Ribes uva-crispa (syn. Ribes grossularia) is a fruiting shrub and a member of the Grossulariaceae (edible currant) family which is native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia. The gooseberry grows as a straggling bush reaching a maximal height of 3m (though more typically 1.5m). It's characterized by its spiny stems that stand out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots, on which the bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves. The fruit of the wild gooseberry is smaller than in the garden kinds, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but smooth fruit are not unknown, the colour is usually green, but plants are occasionally met with having deep purple berries.
You may think it strange that the gooseberry is here in a list of wild plants, especially as most people in Britain believe the gooseberry to be an introduced, garden, variety. The truth is that gooseberries are native to Britain and truly wild forms still exist, with the garden varieties being cultivars of these. Indeed, truly wild gooseberries can still be found, though most gooseberry bushes in the wild these days are either escaped from gardens or are hybrids between garden varieties and wild varieties. The fruit, though tart, are truly delicious and if you find a wild gooseberry bush they will more than repay your trouble in picking them.
Typically the fruit is picked when under ripe (firm and tart). In this state it is ideal for making preserves, pies and sauces. If the fruit is allowed to ripen until soft it becomes very sweet and is excellent eaten straight from the bush. The leaves are also edible and the young leaves can be eaten in salads (but see the note on toxicity). Older leaves can be made into a tea by steeping in boiling water.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants
This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.
These recipes, all contain Gooseberry as a major wild food ingredient.
The gooseberry, Ribes uva-crispa (syn. Ribes grossularia) is a fruiting shrub and a member of the Grossulariaceae (edible currant) family which is native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia. The gooseberry grows as a straggling bush reaching a maximal height of 3m (though more typically 1.5m). It's characterized by its spiny stems that stand out singly or in diverging tufts of two or three from the bases of the short spurs or lateral leaf shoots, on which the bell-shaped flowers are produced, singly or in pairs, from the groups of rounded, deeply-crenated 3 or 5 lobed leaves. The fruit of the wild gooseberry is smaller than in the garden kinds, but is often of good flavour; it is generally hairy, but smooth fruit are not unknown, the colour is usually green, but plants are occasionally met with having deep purple berries.
You may think it strange that the gooseberry is here in a list of wild plants, especially as most people in Britain believe the gooseberry to be an introduced, garden, variety. The truth is that gooseberries are native to Britain and truly wild forms still exist, with the garden varieties being cultivars of these. Indeed, truly wild gooseberries can still be found, though most gooseberry bushes in the wild these days are either escaped from gardens or are hybrids between garden varieties and wild varieties. The fruit, though tart, are truly delicious and if you find a wild gooseberry bush they will more than repay your trouble in picking them.
Typically the fruit is picked when under ripe (firm and tart). In this state it is ideal for making preserves, pies and sauces. If the fruit is allowed to ripen until soft it becomes very sweet and is excellent eaten straight from the bush. The leaves are also edible and the young leaves can be eaten in salads (but see the note on toxicity). Older leaves can be made into a tea by steeping in boiling water.
References:
[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants
The alphabetical list of all Gooseberry recipes on this site follows, (limited to 100 recipes per page). There are 29 recipes in total:
Page 1 of 1
Page 1 of 1