Gooseberry Fool
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove the stems and tails from the gooseberries.
Cook
Place the gooseberries, sugar, and water in a clean saucepan.
Simmer over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring constantly.
Finish and serve
Pour the mixture into a bowl.
Stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes a pulp.
Serve in a chilled bowl or deep glass dish with crisp biscuits and custard.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Green gooseberries
- Provide the tart fruit base that gives the fool its characteristic flavour and pulp.
- Moist sugar
- Sweetens the tart gooseberries and helps soften the fruit as it simmers.
- Water
- Adds moisture so the gooseberries can soften and break down during simmering.
The step that matters
Simmering the gooseberries. Cooking over medium heat while stirring constantly keeps the fruit from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pan. The fruit must soften fully so it can be stirred into a smooth pulp.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.