Processing gooseberries: How to cook the berries
Gooseberries are easy to preserve. This works quite simply and can be done with little effort.
- To boil down 250 grams of gooseberries, you need about 125 grams of sugar and 250 milliliters of water.
- Also, prepare screw-top jars by sterilizing them. The riper and sweeter the fruit, the less sugar you need.
- Wash and destem the berries. Drain and dry them off.
- Put the water in the saucepan and dissolve the sugar in it. Bring the water to a boil.
- Prick the gooseberries with a toothpick. Divide between the glasses. Cover them with the hot sugar solution. Close the screw-top jars.
- Then cook the glasses at least 80 degrees for half an hour. Let the jars cool down well. In this form, the gooseberries can be kept for up to a year. Make sure you cook them properly.
Freezing gooseberries: Here’s how
You can easily freeze gooseberries. Even so, the berries will keep for some time.
- First, wash the gooseberries. Drain them and let them dry well.
- Boil water. Add the gooseberries and let them cook in the water for two minutes. Then take them out with a ladle.
- Rinse the gooseberries with cold water. Drain well.
- If you like, you can add some sugar to the gooseberries so the berries will keep a little longer.
- Fill the gooseberries into freezer bags or freezer-safe boxes. Put them in the freezer. The berries can be kept for up to a year.
Juicing gooseberries: this is how it works
Gooseberries can also be juiced. If you want to preserve the juice, then the saucepan method is a good choice for you. However, you should note that this method means that many of the gooseberries’ nutrients and vitamins are lost.
- Wash the gooseberries.
- Put the berries in a saucepan and add some water. The water should not make up more than 20 percent of the total amount of gooseberries.
- Cover the pot with a lid. Let the berries cook for half an hour over medium heat until a viscous mass is formed.
- Take the pot off the stove and let the mixture cool down.
- Get a sieve. Squeeze the juice through the strainer. Catch the juice.
- If you like, you can sweeten the juice with sugar. Fill the liquid into sterile bottles. Use the juice within a few months.