June/July Drinks of the Month - Gooseberries?

Red Gooseberries

Since I've become a quasi-stay-at -home dad this summer, I've developed a greater appreciation for our local farmer's market, and the opportunities it affords for distracting young children. Our local farmers market has an awesome stand that always has weird, regional produce. Last month, Wolf Farms had all kinds of stuff you would never find in the supermarket: I bought red and white currants, and a whole pint of red gooseberries. I had no idea what to do with any of them, but they were reasonably priced, and I like to experiment. The currants are too small to juice, so I've mostly fed them to the little man (he thoroughly enjoys them). But the goosenberries are good sized, and a great mix of tart and sweet. So I set to researching applications, and found a few good ones! Gooseberries are still ripe, so if you can find them near you, here are two drinks to try. One is little more labor intensive than the other, but... you can decide!

June: Gooseberry Margarita

One application for the gooseberries is to make a steeped syrup. Gooseberries have stems and tails that need to be removed (you can just pluck them off). Remove the debris, and crush 1 1/2 cups in a mortar and pestle. Scrape the crushed berries into a saucepan with 1/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add 1/3 cup of sugar and stir until it dissolves completely. Remove from the heat and allow to cool before straining the mixture of solids using a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer.

Now that you have your gooseberry syrup, you're ready for some margs! In a Boston shaker, combine the following:

1 oz gooseberry syrup
1 oz lime juice
2 oz blanco tequila
0.25 oz Grand Marnier

Shake over ice, and strain into a coupe glass (I was lazy and served mine in a cocktail glass)
. Top with a splash of soda water and serve! The gooseberry adds a nice extra hit of tart flavor, and it comes out a really pretty pale pink color (the picture won't do it justice). Enjoy your Gooseberry Marg!

July: The Goose and Berry (a Dark and Stormy riff)

The other application for gooseberries that I found was gooseberry ginger beer. I've made homemade ginger beer in these pages before, but never with gooseberries! The recipe I found came from the UK, so there is some ingredient and proportion translation needed, but here is what I came up with:

Gooseberries a-roastin' (I used way too much
sugar - it was a conversion oopsie. Dang Brits).

Stem and tail 3 cups of gooseberries. Pre-heat your over to 400 degrees, and line a roasting pan with wax paper. Place your cleaned gooseberries on the lined pan, and cover with 2 1/2 cups of granulated sugar and a teaspoon of ground ginger. Roast in the over for 25-30 minutes. The berries will burst and combine with the sugar to make a syrup. Once the berries are roasted, place them in a blender with 1/3-1/2 cup fresh diced ginger (depending on your ginger-level preferences),  Add the juice of 2 lemons and 2/3 of a cup of raisins. Blend until smooth, and then pour into a large
saucepan. Add 2 liters of cold water, and briefly bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat, and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir in one packet of active yeast, and place in refrigerator overnight. In the morning, transfer the ginger beer into 2 empty 2 liter bottles, leaving at least 1/4 of the bottle empty. Place the cap on loosely and allow to rest for another day in the refrigerator before serving. The yeast should jump start carbonation, which will leave the bottles feeling full-pressured (so use caution when opening).

Once your ginger beer is done, you can build your drink:

In a Collins glass, combine 1.5 oz of dark rum (we use  Plantation OFTD overproof) with 0.5 oz lime juice. Fill with ice, and top with the gooseberry ginger beer (approx 4-6 oz). Serve with a lime wheel. Enjoy the Goose and Berry!