An Easy Gooseberry Pie
It’s berry season in the northwest and I hope it is where you are, too. Last week at my local grocery I felt exceptionally lucky to score two 1/2 flats of red gooseberries. Not only were they beautiful, they were exceptionally sweet! I couldn’t believe that no one…let me repeat that…NO ONE had chanced upon them before me, especially since they were on sale at half their usual price. I can only think that because we don’t see them often, folks were just passing the sweet little beauties right by because they did not know about them or what to do with them. I did a little happy dance since I knew exactly what to do, and with vision of beautiful pies in my mind, snatched up both of the half flats.
When I placed them on the stand in front of the checker, she asked me ” Just what in the world are you going to do with those? I thought gooseberries were just something in fairy tales.” Maybe she remembered the tiny mention Snow White makes of them when the wicked queen says “Making pies?” and Snow responds politely, “Yes, gooseberry pie.”
Snow’s Gooseberry Pie for Grumpy. Source: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Grumpypie.jpg
Almost hopping and skipping out of the store, I couldn’t wait to get home to play with them. I did nibble on a few on the way to Pie Cottage. The flavor is sort of like a muscat grape. But, if the berries are not ripe, I would describe them as tasting like sour grapes!
Once home, I washed and picked them over clean, and did what any self-respecting pie maker would do. I made a gooseberry pie. Over the last few days, I’ve made three of them, and no, I have not eaten them all myself. In fact, each one has been enjoyed by friends.
There are green, red, and yellow/white varieties of gooseberries, and you can bet I will be looking into finding the right variety to plant in my new pie garden.
See if you might be able to find some at your farmers markets, grocery store, farm stand, or if you are lucky, maybe you are growing some in your garden. In the meantime, here’s a pic of one of last week’s delicious pies…
To make this gooseberry pie, use my recipe for Fruit Pie.
And a link to a downloadable recipe that will work for it. Gooseberries are really juicy. I used 3 Tablespoons tapioca for thickener in the pie above.
The post An Easy Gooseberry Pie appeared first on Art of the Pie®.