Gooseberry
Gooseberry (/ˈɡuːsbɛri/ GOOSS-berr-ee or /ˈɡuːzbɛri/ GOOZ-berr-ee (American and northern British) or /ˈɡʊzbəri/ GUUZ-bər-ee (southern British))[1] is a common name for many species of Ribes (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genus Ribes (sometimes placed in the genus Grossularia) are edible and may be green, orange, red, purple, yellow, white, or black.[2][3]
Etymology
The goose in gooseberry has been mistakenly seen as a corruption of either the Dutch word kruisbes or the allied German Krausbeere,[4] or of the earlier forms of the French groseille. Alternatively, the word has been connected to the Middle High German krus ('curl, crisped'), in Latin as grossularia.[5]
However, the Oxford English Dictionary takes the more literal derivation from goose and berry as probable because "the grounds on which plants and fruits have received names associating them with animals are so often inexplicable that the inappropriateness in the meaning does not necessarily give good grounds for believing that the word is an etymological corruption".[5] The French for gooseberry is groseille à maquereau, translated as 'mackerel berries', due to their use in a sauce for mackerel in old French cuisine.[7] In Britain, gooseberries may informally be called goosegogs.[8]
Gooseberry bush was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are "born under a gooseberry bush".[7]
In history
This section contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (March 2023) |
Gooseberry growing was popular in 19th-century Britain. The 1879 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica described gooseberries thus:[9]
The gooseberry is indigenous to many parts of Europe and western Asia, growing naturally in alpine thickets and rocky woods in the lower country, from France eastward, well into the Himalayas and peninsular India.
In
Natural History; the hot summers of Italy, in ancient times as at present, would be unfavourable to its cultivation. Although gooseberries are now abundant in Germany and France, it does not appear to have been much grown there in the Middle Ages, though the wild fruit was held in some esteem medicinally for the cooling properties of its acid juice in fevers; while the old English name, Fea-berry, still surviving in some provincial dialects, indicates that it was similarly valued in Britain, where it was planted in gardens at a comparatively early period.[10]Lancashire, where the working cotton-spinners raised numerous varieties from seed, their efforts having been chiefly directed to increasing the size of the fruit.[9]Of the many hundred sorts enumerated in recent horticultural works, few perhaps equal in flavour some of the older denizens of the fruit-garden, such as the Old Rough Red and Hairy Amber. The
The gooseberry was more populous in North America before it was discovered that it carries
Ecology
Black bears, various birds and small mammals eat the berries, while game animals, coyotes, foxes and raccoons browse the foliage.[11]
Modern cultivation
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
---|---|
Energy | 184 kJ (44 kcal) |
10.18 g | |
Dietary fiber | 4.3 g |
0.58 g | |
0.88 g | |
Niacin (B3) | 2% 0.3 mg |
Pantothenic acid (B5) | 6% 0.286 mg |
Vitamin B6 | 5% 0.08 mg |
Folate (B9) | 2% 6 μg |
Vitamin C | 31% 27.7 mg |
Vitamin E | 2% 0.37 mg |
Copper | 8% 0.07 mg |
Iron | 2% 0.31 mg |
Magnesium | 2% 10 mg |
Manganese | 6% 0.144 mg |
Phosphorus | 2% 27 mg |
Potassium | 4% 198 mg |
Sodium | 0% 1 mg |
Zinc | 1% 0.12 mg |
Other constituents | Quantity |
Water | 87.87 g |
†Percentages estimated using cultivars have been developed for both commercial and domestic use. Of special note are Ribes 'Careless', 'Greenfinch', 'Invicta', 'Leveller', and 'Whinham's Industry', to which the Royal Horticultural Society has awarded Garden Merit.[13]
Ribes gooseberries are commonly raised from cuttings rather than seed; cuttings planted in the autumn will take root quickly and begin to bear fruit within a few years. Nevertheless, bushes planted from seed also rapidly reach maturity, exhibit similar pest-tolerance, and yield heavily. Fruit is produced on lateral spurs and the previous year's shoots.[9] Gooseberries must be pruned to insolate the interior and make space for the next year's branches, as well as reduce scratching from the spines when picking. Overladen branches can be (and often are) cut off complete with berries without substantially harming the plant. Heavy nitrogen composting produces excessive growth, weakening the bush to mildew.[9] Fungal pestsGooseberries, like other members of genus Ribes are banned or restricted in several states of the United States of America because they are secondary (telial) hosts for white pine blister rust.[14] Insect habitatGooseberry bushes (Ribes) are hosts to magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata) caterpillars.[9] Gooseberry plants are also a preferred host plant for comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album), whose larvae frequently feed upon the plant during the development stage,[15] v-moth (Macaria wauaria), and gooseberry sawfly (Nematus ribesii).[9] Nematus ribesii grubs will bury themselves in the ground to pupate; on hatching into adult form, they lay their eggs, which hatch into larvae on the underside of gooseberry leaves.[citation needed] Culinary usesGooseberries are edible and can be eaten raw, or cooked as an ingredient in desserts, such as sugar syrup.[citation needed ]
Nutritionally, gooseberries are a rich source of vitamin C, with no other micronutrients in significant content (see table). European gooseberry are often used for varenye fruit preserves in European Russia. See alsoReferences
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