Food Alphabet
Gooseberry
Gooseberry (Old Russian. "kryzhak") is a perennial shrub up to 1.5 meters high. Gooseberry berries – large, green, reddish or maroon-have a rounded shape with small hard bristles. They can taste sweet and sour, sour, or uniquely sweet.
For the first time in Ancient Russia, gooseberries began to be grown in the XI century in the monastery gardens. And in the XV century in Moscow there were palace gardens with gooseberries. It was then that it began to be called "bersen", which most likely meant "rosehip" (since the word "bersen" was formed from the Tatar "berysen", translated as "rosehip"). Over time, gooseberries became increasingly popular in Russia. Large areas of gooseberry production appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod province, as well as near Moscow, where such well-known varieties as "green bottle", "honey", "English yellow", "English green" and "Warsaw"were grown.
It is known that from unripe gooseberry berries, the Russians of the XVII – XVIII centuries took out the bones with a pin and cooked an exquisite jam. By the way, great fans of this jam were Catherine the Great and Alexander Pushkin!
In England, the "goose berry", or gooseberry, was actively cultivated during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. At the same time, the English called gooseberries "goose berry" for the reason that it was served to the table as a side dish for game, goose or duck. However, according to another version, it was not fresh berries, but a sauce made from them. Then from England, gooseberries came to Holland and Germany, where they were used with meat, and also made wine from it. In general, in the countries of Northern Europe, gooseberries were considered the main dessert and wine culture: in the absence of grapes, Dutch peasants, Scandinavian Vikings, Scottish warriors and Baltic knights drank gooseberry wine infused with cucumber grass leaves. However, the inhabitants of Sweden and England are still very fond of gooseberry wine, because they taste almost no different from grape, but it is very quick and easy to prepare it. In France, gooseberries are also a very common crop, here they make confections, syrups, sauces and soups. And in Germany, "prickly berry" (gooseberry) is often added to cakes, pies and fruit mixes.
As for Russia, here gooseberries are used both in fresh and in processed form. Moreover, in the first case, the berries are mixed with sugar or honey, and in the second-they are simply used for making tinctures, jams, jams, compotes and marmalade.
