I do love a good gooseberry and recently I got my hands on a punnet for free thanks to A B Fruits, who are a local fruit and vegetable supplier for my favourite cafe The Pavilion. The freebie was thanks to a wonderful evening I had at The Pavilion when the owner Emma Garrett teamed up with Grub Club in Cambridge and hosted Bedford’s first Supper Grub Club. We were introduced to lots of local producers [I’ve tried to list most of them below apologies if I’ve forgotten anyone] well, A B Fruits were one such local business and attendees were offer the chance to take some fruit or veg from the stand.
This takes me back to my punnet of gooseberries and enabled me to relive a wonderful memory of my childhood. I distinctly remember loving our garden in our old house growing up, we have half of it sectioned off to form a fruit and veg patch, it was very well stocked and us girls loved harvest time. There was one thing missing though, gooseberry bushes…and boy did I love a good gooseberry!
Our neighbours Betty and Harvey had lots of gooseberry bushes all within reach of our chicken wire fence (can you see where this is going?) I remember one particular summer sneaking behind the garage out of sight of our back door and squeezing my hand and arm through the wire fence to pluck each and every gooseberry off the closest bush.
Harvey caught me. He was (and still is bless him) a lovely man and he would have thought the whole thing very amusing, especially as I panicked and got my arm stuck trying to withdraw it at speed. I must have looked like a little frightened animal caught in a trap. Needless to say, my scrumping days were over and I seem to recall a big of a dicky belly that night too so karma played its hand promptly.
I still love gooseberries though!
This recipe was a simple dessert, perfect for hot summers days or as I’m en joying them as a delicious refreshing supper. If you can get your hands on some particularly delicious gluten free ginger biscuits with stem ginger bits in them you’ll thank me, the chewy ginger pieces are to die for in this dessert and totally compliment the stewed gooseberry. This would also work extremely well with a stewed rhubarb bottom layer, while we’re on that subject if you’re a fan of rhubarb too you’d love this Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble Cake.
A delicious summer fruit dessert made simply, no fuss and both gluten and dairy free.
- 200 g gooseberries
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp arrowroot
- 600 ml dairy free vanilla yogurt I used alpro vanilla
- 8 ginger biscuits
- 2 tbsp ground almonds
No need to top and tail the gooseberries wash and add them to a non stick saucepan with the water and sugar.
Heat gently for 8 mins until the gooseberries have broken down completely.
Add the arrowroot and using a whisk stir rapidly to break any lumps, after a couple of minutes on rapid boil remove the pan from the heat.
Pass the stewed gooseberries through a sieve into a jug and pop in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.
In the meantime take your ginger biscuits and crush them with a rolling pin, then mix in the ground almonds.
Finally build your dessert by adding the stewed gooseberry, then the vanilla yogurt and finally top with ginger crumble. Return to the fridge to chill or serve immediately.
I've made two larger dessert with these quantities, to make four this size you'll need to double the ingredients, however this will make four good sized portions in small tumblers or ramekins if you wish.
Other suppliers at the event included;
And one last thing! I’ve linked my Gooseberry Fool Crumble with these other awesome bloggers pages, go check them out
Cook Blog Share | Free From Fridays | Brilliant Blog Posts | Baking Crumbs | Recipe of the Week
I love gooseberries in any kind of recipe and remember gathering them from the hedgerows when I was child. This recipe sounds delicious and is such a great way to make the most of them!
Looks delicious and so easy to make too!
This sounds glorious Rebecca, I can just imagine how well the ginger of the biscuits cuts through the sharpness of the gooseberries. Yum! As a child I was partial to gooseberries but these days I rarely seem to see any sold in our local supermarket – I’ve no idea why because they’re so tastey. Thankyou for sharing with #BakingCrumbs
Angela x
YUM! Love love gooseberries, sadly all of mine were scoffed by 3 mini Peas before I could made anything but I have managed to freeze a small batch of puree… Guess what I will be eating when they are off at holiday club next week!!