I also would like someones tried & true recipe. I just planted my gooseberries last year, so it may take awhile before I have any to really harvest. I think I have the yellow variety.
Found off the net...
Most gardeners pick gooseberries when they reach full size, but are not fully ripe. At this stage, the fruit are green, tart, and still quite hard. Others prefer to allow the fruit to ripen to a pinkish color and sweeter flavor. Gooseberries can be refrigerated at 35 to 40 degrees F for approximately two weeks.
I prefer to pick them when they are pink to red. They are much sweeter and therefor will need less sugar but I have never made jam with them so I can't help you there.
I don't have a recipe for jam but I do have this one for Gooseberry Bars that is very good.
Crust:
2 c. flour
1 c. quick oats
1 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. oleo
1/2 t. soda
Filling:
3/4 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 T. cornstarch
3 c. gooseberries
Combine crust mixture and put 3/4 in bottom of 9 x 13 cake pan. Cook the filling ingredients until thick and spred over crust mixture. Sprinkle with remaining topping. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.
In my yard, very difficult, because newly-planted gooseberries are still small enough to fit underneath the riding mower. So they have an annoying tendency to get mowed by certain husbands.
Perhaps if you put large stakes, fluorescent tape flagging, wire cages, and spray paint around them, plus make your spouse pay for new ones if the original ones die for any reason at all, they might stand a better chance of surviving. Maybe.
Well, at my house, if they got run over by the lawn mower it would be my fault! DH does not mow lawn. He is to busy in the fields so I fit it in inbetween the rest of the work.
