We went to the farm again on Sunday (I know, so, what else is new!) and this time we actually picked something different, gooseberries. We ate lots of them while picking, then came home and enjoyed some more and I finally started searching for recipes. After looking in several cookbooks and searching the internet, I was frustrated with the lack of interesting recipes, then I realized what I thought were simply called gooseberries were actually Cape gooseberries, also known as cerise de terre in Québec and l’amour en cage in France. I loved the French name, l’amour en cage (love in a cage translated to English) is the perfect description for these little berries. The Cape gooseberry is enclosed in a papery husk that protects the fruit; it looks very similar to a tomatillo and in fact the cape gooseberry and tomatoes are related. The fruit ranges in colour from green to bright yellow to orange depending on the ripeness.
Most recipes I found were for jams and pies, I wanted something simpler and lighter, so I decided this was the perfect way to use some of our berries. The berries are sweet and have a buttery aftertaste and pairs extremely well with vanilla. The original recipe uses twice the amount of sugar I used, if you prefer the compote to be sweeter, add more sugar to taste.
- 4 cups Cape gooseberries
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
Husk the Cape gooseberries; put them in a noncorrosive pot along with the sugar and lemon juice. Divide the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, scrape the seeds with a knife and add to the berries along with the vanilla bean. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, lower the heat and continue stirring for about 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Serve with warm or at room temperature with toast, over ice cream, with a dollop of crème fraiche or with shortbread cookies.
Megicim, buna turkiye’de altin cilek diyorlar biliyor muydun? RTE sayesinde meshur oldu
neyse ben sana baska bir sey soracagim, bana tortilla tarifi lazim ama soguyunca da yumusak kalan bir tarif ariyorum, bildigin bir sey var mi?
operim.
Evrencim, annem de ilk onu soyledi, cok hosuma gitti adi da.
Bugday unu ile mi yoksa misir unuyla mi tortilla yapacaksin?
ikisinin arasindaki fark ne tam bilemiyorum
ama bizim normalde disaridan alip yediklerimiz sanirim beyaz un, heralde ondan yapmak istiyorum 
Evrencim, yanilmiyorsam bugday unu ile olanlarda yag da var, misir unlu olanlarda yok, buyuk olasilikla yag ve pistikten sonra sarmak yumusak kalmasini saglayacaktir.
Wow, I love your photos. what camera do you use?
Ben de bu meyveyi nasıl değerlendireyim diye düşünüyordum. Ne güzel olmuş bu marmelat. Yarın tatile çıkıyorum, döndüğümde hala varsa hemen denerim. Bir de, patlıcan tarifini denedim çok lezzetli oldu. Teşekkürler.
Sevgiler.
I’ve discovered gooseberry at the farmer market in nyc and it’s soooo good , great pictures by the way
Hi Jenny. Thank you for your comment. My husband takes the photos. He uses Canon T1i.