I have got two gooseberry bushes – one red and one green. As I’m trying to do everything (well, almost) by the book, today was the day of working inside my fruit cage.

In there are the gooseberry bushes but also a number of red-,  white-,  and blackcurrant bushes with some blueberries thrown in for good measure.

The book says that I should shorten the fruit-bearing branches so that the plant doesn’t waste the energy in growing ever bigger but it makes the fruit develop.

That done, I thinned out the gooseberries on both bushes because otherwise I would have have loads of tiny fruit. The thinnings can be used in making jellies so I decided to make more of my favourite – mint and gooseberry jelly. The only change in the recipe I made it I didn’t sieve the cooked fruit to obtain just the liquid, I used everything and call it conserve.

Equally delicious with cheese, meat or savoury pies of any kind.

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