I came to love gooseberries as a small child toddling along at my grandmother's side on western Puget Sound. She only had two small bushes and so the wee bit of jam they produced was a real treat for us. Sigh... I've rarely seen or even heard these tart, but divine, berries mentioned since those long ago days.
On our recent road trip to Minnesota, my sister happened upon - yes! - two small gooseberry bushes growing in the cemetery at the church where grandma had been baptised in 1889. Gooseberries have been on my mind ever since, I found some at a produce stand in the Skagit Valley today, and now I shall go make a tart!
But first... curious as to why gooseberries are seemingly uncommon, I was excited to find this article at Saveur.com http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/The-Lemons-of-the-North. I'm not sure how much applies to Northwest Washington, but I enjoyed the reading. I also looked at recipes and this one at Diana'sDesserts.com appeals to me most. I'll let you know!http://www.dianasdesserts.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/recipes.recipeListing/filter/dianas/recipeID/1314/Recipe.cfm
