Pat: help me with your recipe for gooseberry jam.

[blurose]

Please! I would much rather make jam than jelly. The berries were already frozen when I got them. I've previously made jam out of frozen strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. I know I have about a 4lb bag of frozen gooseberries. I've never even tasted a gooseberry before. Do you usually leave the seeds in or strain them out? Thanks in advance.

 

[patandchickens]

I leave the seeds in, just because it's never occurred to me that a person might do otherwise

I do pick the stems and most egregious 'tails' (remnants of flowers) off... dunno whether this has been already done to yours or how easy/hard it would be to do with formerly frozen gooseberries. Gooseberries don't last long enough around here to hit the freezer <g>

You may just have to see what your berries are like when you thaw them -- do jam if there aren't to many unremoveable stems/tails, or jelly if there *are*

I have only ever made jam with mostly underripe berries, and used the sort of standard no-pectin-added formula of berries to sugar to water. It's always set pretty well for me, a soft jam but not a syrup, you know? But if you are unsure of the ripeness of the ones you ahve, and really want something spreadable, you could consider punting and using boxed pectin. There should be a recipe for currants or gooseberries on the box pectin insert, if you decide to go thataways.

Good luck, have fun, gooseberry jam is *good* ,

Pat

 

[Kricket]

Please! I would much rather make jam than jelly. The berries were already frozen when I got them. I've previously made jam out of frozen strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. I know I have about a 4lb bag of frozen gooseberries. I've never even tasted a gooseberry before. Do you usually leave the seeds in or strain them out? Thanks in advance.

Never tasted a gooseberry before?? VERY sour! IMO you are not missing anything. My kids and husband will differ on that. We have wild bushes here so they will pick and stem enough for a dozen pies or so. That is what I do with them. We do pick them green. I have made jam before but either I cooked it too long or it just has the tendancy to set up thick. Have you done yours yet? Let us know what you think.