How to make gooseberry jam

Why it is so reliable

Under-ripe green gooseberries carry a great deal of pectin, concentrated in the skins and the seeds, and they are sharply acidic. That is both halves of a set, supplied by the fruit.

Dessert gooseberries — the soft red or golden ones eaten raw in late summer — have considerably less of both, having converted much of the pectin as they ripened. They make a softer, sweeter, less interesting jam.

The colour changes during cooking. Green gooseberries turn a dusty pink or amber with prolonged heat, which is normal and slightly disconcerting the first time.

The method

Simple, and the soften-first rule applies as it does for currants. FoodHQ does not publish keeping times, jar-processing schedules or the acidity figures that decide whether a sealed preserve is safe on a shelf. In the UK the Food Standards Agency is the authority — follow its guidance on sterilising, sealing and storing.

1. Top and tail the fruit only if you want whole berries in the finished jam. For a crushed or sieved jam, skip it — the stalks and remnants soften completely.
2. Weigh the fruit and put it in a preserving pan with water, roughly a third of the fruit's weight.
3. Simmer until the skins are soft and the berries are bursting, fifteen to twenty minutes. Test one against the side of the pan.
4. Put two plates in the freezer. Add an equal weight of sugar to the original fruit and stir over a low heat until fully dissolved.
5. Boil hard. Gooseberry reaches setting point quickly, often within eight minutes.
6. Test on a cold plate, skim, and pot.

Variations

• Gooseberry and elderflower. The seasons overlap by a fortnight in June and the pairing is close to perfect. Add a few heads tied in muslin during the simmer, or a splash of cordial off the heat.
• Gooseberry and mint, with leaves steeped in the hot jam and removed.
• Gooseberry and ginger, with chopped stem ginger stirred in near the end.
• Gooseberry jelly, sieved after simmering, which removes the skins and seeds entirely.
• Gooseberry chutney, where the natural acidity means less vinegar is needed than usual.
• As a rescue fruit, a proportion added to any low-pectin jam that will not set.
• Frozen fruit works identically, and the tops and tails snap off more easily from frozen.

Choosing the fruit

Green cooking gooseberries

Hard, sour, high in pectin. The right choice, and picked in late May and June.

Dessert gooseberries

Soft, red or gold, sweet. Lower in pectin and acid. Better eaten raw.

Colour change

Green gooseberries turn dusty pink with long cooking. Normal.

Sugar

Equal weight is standard. Gooseberries are very sharp and less sugar tastes austere.

No lemon needed

The acidity is more than sufficient.

Common questions