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Bavarian Gooseberry Pie

Grütze? Yep, pronounce it “groo-tz’-eh”. In Bavaria it’s usually made with red berries; currents, raspberries, strawberries, and is served warm over icecream. We are going to misuse the recipe by changing half the ingredients and putting the finished product in a pie shell. We are going to do all this so that you don’t ever have to learn to pronounce Grütze. You’re welcome.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
2 cans	Gooseberries
250 ml.	Water
100-150 g.	Sugar
1	Lemon (Juice + 1/2 peel)
250 g	Favorite Jam 1
3 Tbsp.	Cornstarch
5 Tbsp	White Wine 2
	Pastry for a 9 inch pie

Ready? Let’s get started!

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Mix water, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch together in a pot until no little cornstarch lumps can be found.

Turn on a medium heat and chuck in that 1/2 lemon peel ³. Cook stirring often until thickened.

Remove from the heat, remove lemon peel and stir in gooseberries, jam and white wine.

Taste your filling for sweetness⁴ and adjust if necessary.

Spoon gently in a pre-baked pie crust and chill overnight. Maybe top it with some whipped cream? Let me know how it turns out.

What could go wrong?

How would I know? I made it up, but I have not actually made this recipe yet. I put it here so I wouldn’t lose it until Gooseberries are in season here (again). Now it will be months until then. I had the chance to make this recipe last summer, but fail. Every time gooseberries landed in my kitchen, I just ate them. (They were so good.) Forgive me, people. I know I’m going out on a ledge with this one. Worst case, I’m sure it will taste good on a spoon any time of day while standing in the refrigerator door.

Footnotes

1. If in doubt and you can’t choose a favorite jam, try strawberry. Strawberry jam goes with everything. ↩

2. Getting fancy? Try a gooseberry gin instead and report back please. Hedgepig and Raisthorpe Manor make gooseberry gin. There’s also a whiskey from Sovereign called Sovereign No. 1 with Gooseberry and Elderflower. But, if you can get a bottle, you should probably drink that while baking to keep your spirits up until the pie is ready. ↩

3. No need to zest and grate and carry on. Go ahead and plunk the half a peel in the pot. We just want the taste. We’re going to take it out later. ↩

4. Before you do this though take a moment to find the taste of pie crust from around the rim of a pie in your memory and place it on your tongue. You will want your filling to be sweet enough to flavor the rim pieces when your sliver of pie is almost gone, right? Ok. Taste. Too sweet? Add a tsp of lemon juice. Not sweet enough? A little sugar or better yet, more jelly. ↩