We've had a bountiful gooseberry harvest this year. The bushes are absolutely covered with large, ripe, translucent, and sweet berries.
Some of the harvest has already been eaten, mostly the berries growing on the top. But there are still plenty of berries inside the bush. Gooseberries are very prickly, the spines digging into your fingers, and no one wants to pick them. But it's a shame to let the harvest go to waste. The younger children, wearing gloves, collected a small bucket for themselves.
I followed their example and used gloves to collect berries for jam from the thorny branches.
I decided to try making gooseberry jam for the winter. I've never made anything with gooseberries before. I put the berries in the refrigerator the evening after I got home from the garden. They're not raspberries, they're firm and can keep overnight.
In the morning I washed the berries under running water and removed the leaves.
I removed the stems and tips from the berries. I used my fingers, but you can also use scissors.
I mashed some of the berries in a blender and added a tiny bit of sugar. Once the sugar dissolved, I mixed it well and poured it into a container. I froze the gooseberries for my grandson.
I sprinkled the remaining berries with sugar at a rate of 1 kg of sugar per 1 kg of berries and mixed them gently. I left them at room temperature for a while to allow the gooseberries to release their juice. The gooseberries were dense and took a long time to release their juice.
I added half a glass of water to the berries and the sugar began to dissolve.
I put the pan with the gooseberries on the stove. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Collected the foam.
I turned off the stove and left the jam on the stove. It should be thoroughly heated and the berries should be soaked in the syrup. When the jam had cooled, I turned the stove back on and added another cup of sugar, as the gooseberry jam was runny and a bit tart. I boiled it for another five minutes and left it to cool again.
The cooled jam was almost ready, but some of the berries were a little damp, so I had to simmer it over low heat a little longer. Once the jam had cooled slightly, I poured it into clean, sterilized jars and sealed them with lids.
Got three half-liter jars.
And there was a little syrup left - thick, transparent.
I added syrup to water with lemon and got a delicious fruit drink.
And in a few days I’ll pick some more gooseberries and other berries and make some compote for the winter.