Gooseberry Fool

One of my favourite garden writers is the late Christopher Lloyd. Not only did he have lots of good tips—he was very opinionated, something I really respect.

Lloyd included a section on Gooseberries in his 1997 book Gardener Cook. He had little use for ripe gooseberries (which he deemed fit for birds), preferring instead unripe ones, which have more acidity. I’m with Lloyd on this count, and picked my unripe gooseberries yesterday.

The recipe below comes from his recipe for Gooseberry Fool, a splendidly simple dish that combines the richness of cream with the tang of unripe gooseberries.

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 lb gooseberries, topped and tailed
• sugar
• 1 ¼ cups whipping cream
• Melt butter in pan and add gooseberries
• When cooked and soft, remove from heat and mash
• Add sugar to taste
• Fold the sweetened fruit mash into whipped cream so that there are swirls of it in the cream
• Chill before serving

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