Muristek
Give the classic British berry another chance and you might get a nice surprise
You know, social media can be a tricky place to navigate, even (or perhaps especially?) when it comes to gardening. Yet, in the muddle of trolls and bots, there are some fascinating voices out there that can really help you challenge your preconceptions and expand your horticultural horizons. Out of all the lessons I have learned, probably the very best is how we should fall back in love with gooseberries.
As a child in tropical Asia my only knowledge of gooseberries was from storybooks. Fascinated by illustrations of their weird shape and magical translucence, I was determined to try some when visiting my grandmother back in Wales. I was not put off by my mum’s warnings that they needed to be boiled in sugar to be rendered edible. How could that possibly be true? I tracked some down in a supermarket, and crunched straight into one and was instantly horrified by the mouth-puckering acidity and rasping texture. Essentially, there were no redeeming features. It was like a kiwi made worse in every way.
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