Gooseberry

Groseille à maquereau

What it is

Nineteenth-century Lancashire mill workers competed in gooseberry clubs to grow the heaviest single berry, with records kept to the grain. Some of those societies still meet, and the winning weights have barely been beaten in a century.

In the kitchen

The French name points at the classic use: a sharp sauce for mackerel. The acidity cuts oily fish better than lemon.

Goes with

Mackerel Cream Elderberry Vanilla Almond Honey Butter Mint

Same species

Blackcurrant Blackcurrant buds Blackcurrant leaf Crème de cassis de Dijon Redcurrant White currant

Also used with

Meadowsweet Sweet cicely Angelica Elderflower

In season alongside

Lingonberry Begonia petals Haskap Cornelian cherry Damson Green Zebra tomato

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