Hi

How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?

Wendy

"Sunny Girl" wrote in message
...
: Hi
:
: How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?
:
: Wendy
:
Squeeze them gently and if they are not firm they are getting ready , if
they give a nice bit they are ready, and of course if they're not the red
ones , they go yellower when they are ready. The other way is to try them!

On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 14:30:53 +0000 (UTC), "Sunny Girl"
wrote:

Hi

How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?

Wendy

For cooking etc, they're ready any time they're big enough. For
dessert they're ready when the blackbirds have eaten them ;~))
Rod

Weed my address to reply

http://website.lineone.net/~rodcraddock/index.html

Rod wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 14:30:53 +0000 (UTC), "Sunny Girl"
wrote:

Hi

How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?

Wendy

For cooking etc, they're ready any time they're big enough. For
dessert they're ready when the blackbirds have eaten them ;~))

And for wine, they must be unripe. I don't understand why, but it's
true: somehow the flavour which works best for wine diminishes as
they ripen. True for cooking, too, as Rod says.

--
Mike.

On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 22:10:39 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
wrote:

Rod wrote:
On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 14:30:53 +0000 (UTC), "Sunny Girl"
wrote:

Hi

How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?

Wendy

For cooking etc, they're ready any time they're big enough. For
dessert they're ready when the blackbirds have eaten them ;~))

And for wine, they must be unripe. I don't understand why

Define criteria !
I've been doing 5gall of gooseberry anually since '70
the later I can leave them (ie.beginning to burst but before the birds
find them) the better !
When they are unripe it is a characteristically country gooseberry
wine,,
(I know, my mother used to make it, floating yeast on toast in a
covered crock etc ! ),,
,, later it can be a nice white wine !

The message
from (Corncrake) contains these words:

/snip/

(I know, my mother used to make it, floating yeast on toast in a
covered crock etc ! ),,
,, later it can be a nice white wine !

Coo! That's how I was taught to make it by our housekeeper back in the
days when it was a clandestine activity. (I was about ten, and knowing
she made wines at home pestered her something rotten to show me how.)

I used to make about a gallon of rather too sweet dandelion and another
of parsnip, and it lasted about a year with the help of a medicine glass
bought from F.W.Woolworth for 1d, and a lot of self-control. Being at
boarding school helped too, as I had to leave it behind in my shed.

The last time I used the toast and bakers' yeast method was in 1955 when
I made five gallons of beer: after that I used to beg a bit of brewers'
yeast from the local brewery, from where I used to buy my crushed malted
barley. (Rebagged into smaller units, and with several trips home on my
bicycle.)

The first time, I took a hundredweight sack home on the bus, and getting
it to the bus-stop and home from the home bus-stop. (I was fifteen at
the time. That experience convinced me that I had to find an easier
way.)

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from (Corncrake) contains these
words:

/snip/

(I know, my mother used to make it, floating yeast on toast in a
covered crock etc ! ),,
,, later it can be a nice white wine !

Coo! That's how I was taught to make it by our housekeeper back in
the
days when it was a clandestine activity. [...]

What _was_ the point of the toast-floating method? It always struck
me as absurd.

Interesting, Corncrake: individual taste, I suppose. Certainly I
always used whitecurrants ripe.

--
Mike.
--
Mike.

On Sun, 3 Jul 2005 09:41:54 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
(snips)
back in the days when it was a clandestine activity.

Cor :-!)
So Chancellor Reginald Maudling is your hero as well then ? !!
Actually, where I was it wasnt particularly clandestine, technically
illegal to home brew beer and ale but nobody seemed to worry abut it,
which is probably why Reg. did away with the regs.
Home wine making, as far as I remember, was never illegal.

I used to make about a gallon of rather too sweet dandelion and another
of parsnip

our favourites - burnet, blackberry, elderflower.
but it took ages to pick enough burnets to make a gallon

1955 when
I made five gallons of beer: after that I used to beg a bit of brewers'
yeast from the local brewery, from where I used to buy my crushed malted
barley. (Rebagged into smaller units, and with several trips home on my
bicycle.)

Cor ! Me too, sack across the bicycle crossbar and walk it home from
the brewery, 'twas amazing what got, errr, 'liberated' from that
brewery !
Malt extract was sometimes available from a baker as well, I dont
remember what they used it for ??
I was a few years later than you with my first beer, about 1958/9/ish

Hi
How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?
Wendy

Ready for what ?
cooking
freezing
eating fresh of the bush
winemaking
etc&etc ?

Corncrake writes
Hi
How can I tell when my gooseberries are ready?
Wendy

Ready for what ?
cooking
freezing
eating fresh of the bush
winemaking
etc&etc ?

Just after the cherries and redcurrants, and before the blackcurrants
are ready :-)

I usually manage to pick them for Jam / freezing when I can see them
easily on the bushes, which is when they start to change colour. This
year once I'd finished with the cherries, I used my new netting to cover
them until I had the time to pick them. Last year the birds got there
before me...
--
David