The Lost World of Gooseberries
Though I’ve never tasted, nor even seen, a gooseberry, I remember hearing my great- aunt Alta and uncle Thomas talk about them—how delicious they were and how much they wished they could find some again. Uncle Thomas would often lament how he longed for the taste of my aunt’s gooseberry pie, or her homemade jelly on his morning biscuits.
Gooseberries, a close relative of currants, were once a very popular fruit in the United States. However, a federal ban in the early 1900s that led to 
the destruction of almost all of the plants in the country. This sixty-year ban dramatically impacted the berries availability, which played a major roll in the decline of its popularity.
In 1966 the federal ban—originally enacted due to a fungal disease called white pine blister rust—was lifted and control was passed to the states. jurisdiction, Most states with the exception of some in the North, once again allowed gooseberry production. Unfortunately, commercial production never fully recovered, and the fruit never regained its former glory.
While it’s thought that ancient Romans ate gooseberries, the first written account of the fruit appears in the 16th-century writings of the English naturalist William Turner’s famous Herbal. Worldwide, there are over 100 varieties in the genus Ribes, which includes gooseberries (and currants), each producing edible berries in a range of colors—green, orange, red, yellow, white, or black.
European gooseberries (Ribes uva-crispa) date back centuries. They became so popular that, in 1740, growers throughout England and Scotland began organizing gooseberry clubs to develop new cultivars and sponsor competitions for the largest and most flavorful fruit. Unfortunately, World War I interrupted gooseberry production, and their popularity never returned to previous levels.
Today, only a few of these societies remain. Most are located in Cheshire England, where eight active clubs still operate around the village of Goostrey. The oldest, the Egton Bridge Gooseberry Society, was established in 1800. It continues to host annual gooseberry competitions on the first Tuesday in August, where growers are awarded prizes for the largest single, twin, and triplet berries, in various categories. The largest gooseberry ever recorded by the society was a yellow Millennium, weighing 2.25 ounces (63.7 grams),
In the United States, there are about 50 native Ribes species, including the American gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum). Sometimes called the Hair-Stemmed or Swamp gooseberry, this variety produces very tart fruit in when immature—yellow-green in color— but ripens to a deep purplish-blush berry with sweet flesh and tangy skins by early to mid-summer.
The fruit of this wild species is small (about 1/4-inch in diameter), with spiny shoots that can reach up to 3/4-inch—much longer than those of improved American cultivars. American gooseberries are hardy, able to survive cold winters, and thrive in full sun to partial shade, especially with humid springs and summers. Several hardy cultivars can be found in nurseries today, including the high-yielding Pixwell variety.
The American gooseberry grows to a shrub that can reach about four feet in height and spread at maturity. It grows at a medium rate and, under the right conditions, can live for up to fifteen years. Its deciduous forest-green foliage turns brilliant shades of orange in the fall.
In addition to their beauty, and the delicious fruit, gooseberries offer a wide range of health benefits. They’re low in calories and fat, yet rich in nutrients like copper, manganese, and potassium. Gooseberries also contain vitamins C, B5, and B6, and are packed with antioxidants and dietary fiber.
Though not readily available in the U.S., you might be able to find fresh gooseberries at local farmers’s markets or roadside farm stands during the summer months—May through August. While many grocery stores carry gooseberry pie filling and syrups, I’m told those products fall short due to the excessive amount of sugar used in their production, which masks the fruit’s natural flavor. So if you’re lucky enough to score a pint or two of fresh berries for your pies, jelly, or jam, I’m sure they’ll turn out so much better.
