Harvesting and Preserving Fruit - redcurrants and gooseberries

Picking and using  - gooseberries and redcurrants

 

Well, we have now had the rain needed to wet the ground  enough to be able to till it and plant again and most of the vegetables that had been planted earlier are beginning to grow away.  So, of course, are the weeds. This year, so far, the weeds have not been too much of a problem, nor have the edges needed trimming too often but now they seem to be a bit out of control.

No worries, I won’t have to spend several hours each day carrying water – except to my polytunnel, I should have plenty of time to keep the weeds under control. But, I now have a lot of fruit to pick each time I go there. Already I have lots of tubs in the freezer of raspberries and blackcurrants. So far I have found other homes for my strawberries. I’m not a great jam eater and although I do make jams and jellies each year, I give most of it away. It seems to be quite a good year for strawberries. I have two quite large beds. The older one, which is now three years old and due to be replaced this autumn, is being particularly productive with very large fruits. I’m wondering if it is worth keeping it for another year.

The raspberries are still fruiting on last year’s canes, as soon as they have finished I will cut them out and start on the crop from the new canes. I have one row which, although the plants look lush and healthy produces very poor fruit. I inherited the canes when I took over the plot and this winter I will remove it. With modern varieties of fruit there is no need to keep underperforming stock. When I took over the plot I bought some new canes – a summer fruiting variety and an autumn fruiting variety. For the life of me I can’t remember what I bought, which is a shame as they have been excellent.

I will do the same with a row of blackcurrant bushes which, although I have pruned, fertilised and mulched them well, they continue to produce small, fiddly to pick fruits which, this year, I have just left for the birds. I notice they don’t seem to want them either – aren’t they becoming choosy?

While strawberries and raspberries will continue to fruit for some time, you only have one chance with some of the fruit. Gooseberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants really need to be picked when they are ready and there is no second or third crop to go back to if you don’t catch the first round though, to be fair blackcurrants don’t all ripen at once.

You will probably have a couple of weeks in which to ‘catch’ them but, once picked you have to be prepared to do something with them. Yesterday I picked all my redcurrants and about half of my gooseberries. The quantity of redcurrants is a little disappointing. Although I only have one bush, it is enormous and for the last few years has provided me with a bucket of the fruit. I do think that the pigeons and blackbirds have managed to find their way into my fruit cage and have had more than their share. I always leave a few small gaps just in case they do get in and can’t escape in an emergency – fox or cat. This year I’d say I have a large bowlful. I love redcurrant jelly to serve with all sorts of roast meat and while I know it is a bit unimaginative, that is what I will do again this year. If I had picked enough of them I would have frozen several tubs for winter use. It won’t be too bad though, I still have a few pots left from my bumper harvest last year.

Check on the website link on the top right-hand corner for recipes for jams and jellies – see the preserving pages.

While I may not have had an enormous crop of redcurrants, I certainly have a lot of gooseberries. While they are delicious, they are also quite fiddly to prepare. If you are going to make jam or jelly with them or, make pies or crumble they can be slightly under-ripe. For eating fresh or for gooseberry fool they are probably better really ripe.

They are quite a versatile fruit and are excellent for preserving to keep for winter use.

Gooseberries make a wonderful jelly – similar to crab-apple jelly but, a bit more flavoursome. It is also delicious served with roast meat dishes with finely chopped mint or rosemary added.

If you are going to make jelly you can skip all the tedious process of topping and tailing them (removing the stalks and the remains of the flowers at the other end). However, for jam, desserts and for freezing these must be removed.

Wash the fruit (always with gooseberries), top and tail them and pack loosely into a shallow lidded freezer container or, try dry-freezing them. Spread them out on kitchen-paper on a tray and freeze as individual fruits. When frozen, they can be packed into freezer bags. Easy!

Do keep some of them to make a gooseberry pie or a crumble. I know it is summertime but these traditional hot puddings are always delicious. Serve with vanilla ice-cream, crème fraîche or single cream – what a treat.