John Savage wrote:

Very interesting to read your experience. My dad grew Cape gooseberries
one year. They bore well, but they were eaten as they ripened and he
never got enough to make jam. I do recall that some of the lantern cases
contained a grub when opened. I don't know the other sort of gooseberry,
apart from the Chinese gooseberry (aka Kiwi Fruit).

Saw Cape gooseberries at a friend's place in Brighton, Vic, many years ago, and
got the impression that they were more or less a weed. Real gooseberry is a
relation of the currents (red, black, ...), but the berry is about the size of a
grape, and the bush is very thorny. The immature berry is green, but it turns
red as it ripens. They are always very sour, but are nice stewed, and make
excellent jam. A ******* to pick though, and very tedious to top and tail.
They used to be an essential ingredient of the English cottage garden.


Roger Riordan AM