Gooseberry

Malic acid crystallizes in colourless needles m.p. lOO C. It o- curs in many acid fruits, such as grapes, apples and gooseberries. It can be prepared by microbiological processes using various moulds or from ( + )-bromosuccinic acid by the action of NaOH. 

Most of the anthocyanins acylated with caffeic acid have this cinnamyl moiety linked to a glucosyl position 6, as in gooseberries, some grape cultivars, ° " ° black carrots, red cabbage,red radishes," and sweet potatoes. Some anthocyanins isolated from species of potatoes have a caffeyl group located at position 4 of the rhamnosyl unit of the rutinose disaccharide. " ... 

Azarole, blueberries, buckthorn, cranberries, elderberries, gooseberries, rose hips, service berries... 

Folpet potatoes, apples, tomatoes, pears, cherries, gooseberries 2.0 Not permitted 00... 

Pectins occur naturally in both soluble and insoluble forms. Soluble pectin occurs in plant juices and is particularly abundant in those juices which form jellies, such as black-currant and gooseberry. Insoluble pectins tend to occur in the green parts of plants, in fruit and in root crops.1 This insolubility is apparently due either to the presence of the pectin as its insoluble calcium or magnesium salt or because it is combined (esterified ) with cellulose or some other insoluble polysac-... 

Pantelidis GE, Vasilakakis M, Manganaris GA and Diamantidis GR. 2007. Antioxidant capacity, phenol, an-thocyanin and ascorbic acid contents in raspberries, blackberries, red currants, gooseberries and Cornelian cherries. Food Chem 102(3) 777-783. 

Apples 300 Pears 302 Plums 304 Cherries 306 Peaches and nectarines 308 Strawberries 310 Raspberries 312 Blackberries and hybrid berries 314 Black currants 316 Red and white currants 318 Gooseberries... 

Clockwise from top left) Plant problems Pea plants stressed by drought and heat leaf yellowing between the veins, a common symptom of mineral deficiency red currant bush with most of its leaves stripped to skeletons by the pest gooseberry sawfly the fungal disease potato blight... 

Left, from top) Caring for fruit Seep hose laid around strawberries mulohing around newly planted fruit trees pruning to oreate an open-centered gooseberry bush a simple beer trap protecting ripening fruits from wasps. 

In areas where pine trees are raised commercially, there may be restrictions on buying and planting black currants due to the potential for spreading white pine blister rust, a fungal disease that is passed back and forth between pine trees and some species of currants and gooseberries. Check with your university extension service before buying plants. 

Berry bounty If well-pruned, a mature black currant can bear fruit along almost every inch of its branches, so it is ideal for smaller gardens. The cultivars Ben Lomond and Ben Sarek are especially compact, and both have the advantage of being resistant to American gooseberry mildew and leaf midge. 

If you have no interest in gooseberries, there is a good chance that you have never tasted a fine dessert cultivar. Grown as bushes or cordons, they crop in their second summer after planting and, if well-managed, can last 15-20 years. 

Cultivar choice Gooseberries may be white, green, yeiiow, or red, and for either ouiinary or dessert use. Some ouitivars resist miidew weii. 

Winter pruning Gooseberries are "spur-pruned" as red ourrants are sideshoots are out baok to form short fruiting spurs. 

Gooseberries and red currants are closely related, and advice on site and soil for red currants (see p.316) is equally applicable to gooseberries. Gooseberries are hardy in Zones 3-7 and can be grown with little direct sunlight, except that choice dessert cultivars are better grown where they will receive sunlight for at least half the day. An airy spot is best to help combat mildew. 

Prepare the soil, buy, and plant following the advice given for red currants (see p.316), including checking for local planting restrictions due to the threat of white pine blister rust. Choose cultivars that are resistant to American gooseberry mildew. 

Gooseberries can be rather droopy in habit, and it is important to keep the fruit from touching the soil this can lead to fungal infections spreading up onto the plant by rain-splash, or attacks by slugs and snails. If necessary, push in canes around the bush and loop twine around them to keep the outer branches off the ground. Keep the bushes pruned to an open center. 

Follow the mulching and fertilizing advice for red currants (seep317). Prune gooseberries as for red currants, too, but in winter, leave the spurs longer prune them to three or four buds rather than two, to allow more fruits to grow. 

Before the availability of artificial fertilizers in the mid-19th century, farms were traditionally organic, with recycling of animal waste, and perhaps with the application of lime on acid soils. Agricultural chemical analysis may have begun with Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786), the Swedish pharmacist who isolated citric acid from lemons and gooseberries and malic acid from apples. In France, Nicolas Theodore de Saussure (1767-1845) studied the mineral composition of plant ash, and in Britain, Sir Humphrey Davy... 

Custard apple, passion fruit, pomegranate, sharon fruit, lychee, figs, cranberry, gooseberry... 

Hydroxy benzoic acid raspberry, gooseberry, pecans, anise, fennel... 

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