I have heard of gooseberries....but had only had the jam (Crabtree and Evelyn from Great Britain) once. That empty jar has been my button jar for pearl buttons.
So when I found these, next to the blueberries, in our grocery store today, I had to bring some home. I am delighting in how they look, a wonderful light green (so trendy now!LOL!) and sporting little stripes in their translucent skin!
They have very little flavor and are tart, rather like a sour green grape...hmmm no wonder they made jam! They are full of Vitamin C, pectin and flavanoids....so must be good for me and I will eat them....maybe with yogurt and honey....I'm not up for making jam (or a gooseberry pie)!!!!!
Searching the Internet brought up this poem.....[Appelliefie is another term for gooseberry, the word being even more obscure than the fruit?]
Appelliefie
I may eat grapefruit
or apricot
may crisp a strawberry with my eyes
or part secrets of passion fruit
but I cannot remember
the taste of appelliefie ...
Growing wild
it has to be stripped from its skin
-lifted onto a palm -
becoming a dream of transparency.
Whilst the mouth water
to sample its innocence
and lips lisp ecstasy
yes,whilst the tongue awakens
to its memory
it awaits the tired traveller
on a hillside at Ruiterbosch
hiding in abundance
to delight him
who does not seek.
by myra lochner 20.06.2004 [her name is a link!]
[Gooseberries in bowl photo by Lila....gooseberries on a bush from Google "images"]
**************************************************************
These photos were taken (by Mr. Pear!) while watching the Huntsville, AR, hometown rodeo parade which passed through the old downtown and courthouse square this afternoon. [click on photo to enlarge]
Local color and pageantry were visable in abundance and anyone with a mount could join in the end of the parade.....I especially like the green wagon...advertising a logging business. This is still a big industry in the area. The children all pile in, and of course, I notice the girl with bright red hair (Celtic ancestors are common in these hills!).
We strolled and saw a drug store on the town square, which just closed after 110 years and generations of serving the area. Progress marches on. Several former shops are now "flea markets" and or coffee shops. Browsing through the flea market items from an economically depressed part of the world is pretty "ho-hum", unfortunately...sometimes the old farm tools are there, rust and all. I did see some quilt blocks and one booth was selling cotton quilting fabrics (someone's "stash").
On the way home, I finally get a photo (thanks to Mr. Pear) of this old Victorian farmhouse just off the highway....the porch has a "NO TRESPASSING" sign. Now the windows are broken and some of the balcony railing has gone missing. IN spite of the rusty tin roof, there is still a bit of gingerbread trim and plenty of "mystique"...."Is it haunted now?" Perhaps they even had a garden with gooseberry bushes once upon a time......
