Friday, June 11, 2010

Gooseberry jam

My neighbor is an avid gardener. He grows vegetables and greens of different kinds and we generally exchange and share seeds, seedlings and produce. I have a standing invitation to visit his yard any time. I do not overuse it except to get gongura leaves which I do not normally grow.


cooked berries

Two days back got an invitation to pluck some gooseberries - yes the mystery fruit is gooseberry. Most of you guessed it's name correctly but not the variety. These are not the Indian kind (nellikkai/amla) which is a tropical fruit and grow on trees. There are two types of the Indian gooseberry and they usually grow in clumps with a solid pith and are very suitable for making pickles, jellies or to eat with just salt and red chili powder.


with sugar added and almost done

The fruits from the last post as HC and an anonymous commenter correctly pointed out are the American variety of gooseberry and very similar to the fruits in the berry family like strawberries, raspberries and blueberries.



done

With a slightly puckering taste when not ripe and a sweet mild taste when ripe these fruits are suitable for jellies and tarts.




I did have thoughts of sambhar, pickle and thokku. Settled on jelly. It was quick and easy



on toast


Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
1. 2 Cups of gooseberry
2. 1 Cup of sugar
3. 1/4 cup water

Method
1. In a heavy bottomed pan, take the gooseberries and water and let it boil till the fruit becomes soft (about 10 minutes)
2. Use a blender to puree the fruit
3. Add sugar and let it boil till a drop dropped in a bowl of water does not dissolve (15-20 minutes)
Jelly is done

15 comments:

  1. Gooseberry jam. Sounds so good. Nice and simple recipe. YUM! Really wanted to try this one...

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  2. How awesome to have a neighbor who shares your interest in gardening (esp. edible things). Jelly looks oh so yummy, I don't think I have tasted amla jelly/jam ever.

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  3. wow a jam!..it sure looks interesting...does it taste similar to our gooseberry indo..

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  4. Goose berry jam? Never heard b'4 looks absolutely delicious...what a mouthwatering dish. And the picture below' the berries, luks awesome:)

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  5. Gooseberry Jam reminds me of Enid Blyton books.. :)

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  6. awesome jam..looks so good..

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  7. Aw man! I thought I nailed it this time. ;)

    American gooseberries, eh! So glad to hear that you have a neighbor who shares this interest with you.

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  8. too bad I missed the guessing game..very innovative..jam from gooseberry!!! unbelievable..

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  9. I could never guess it... name nor variety :) Great jam!

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  10. Jelly ... not murabba. :-(
    Would love to try making this. :-)

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  11. YAY! I know in India we have 2 kinds, huge ones are called "Bettada Nellikai" and small ones are yellow and have ridges which I love to eat with salt and chilli pd. Slurp.

    Jam looks good, freshly made without any preservatives!:)

    My neighbor does the "Beekeeping" in his backyard after he retired.
    He gave us a big bottle of dark colored honey last Summer which I added to bake honey bread. Last week he gave us a small bottle of Spring honey with lot lighter color, made Honey bread again. In return, we gave him a Wine bottle which he loved! :D
    It was 94F yesterday and then thankfully it rained in the evening, lot cooler today, but still in upper 80s.

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  12. Nupur, this is jam from the American gooseberry. My MIL makes jam from the small variety Indian gooseberries we call aranellikai.

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  13. gooseberry jam looks wonderful.. i have never had it before, but i can tell it must taste great on a freshly toasted bread.

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  14. Jelly looks too good Indo. I did know about an Am variety(http://www.bongcookbook.com/2007/02/gooseberry-and-not-happy-about.html) but yours looked so much like our Amla

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  15. Yupieee i was correct i knwe it was not our nellikat, and i read in the lates post that you have your inlaws there, you all must be spoiled by really delicious food made by MIL

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