Much as I like cooked gooseberries, I was trying to think what I could do with some gooseberries that would keep that sharpness and fragrantness that they have when they’re raw. So I thought I’d try making gooseberry liqueur. I couldn’t actually find any recipes for it, but the basic principle of making fruit liqueur seems pretty straightforward, so I topped and tailed the berries, pricked them all over with a fork, and put them in a jar with a load of sugar and vodka.*
I’m going to leave them to soak for four or five weeks in a cool dark place, strain off the liquid into a bottle and then possibly leave it a little longer to mature. My ideal result would be a kind of gooseberry version of limoncello: sharp and flavoursome. But I’m just making it up as I go along, so I’ll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.
* Just for my own benefit if I want to remember the quantities later: 800g of gooseberries, 300g of sugar and about 3/4 of a bottle of Stoli.
5 replies on “Gooseberry liqueur”
So, how did it taste?
I don’t know, it’s still not ready. Or at least I don’t actually know whether it’s ready, but I’m giving it another couple of weeks. It hasn’t turned the vivid green I vaguely hoped it would — I think it’s going to be a kind of cloudy-looking liquid — but that’s all I know so far.
Hello I know it is some time from posting but I was woundering how your Gooseberry liqueur turned out !! as my grand son and I picked a load of gooseberrys and a few days before I made some cherrybrandy it’s still in the jar but it was done just like you; jar 8oz of sugare fill jar with cherrys less the tones cover with the sugar fill to top with brandy, but I did not fancy using brandy for the gooseberrys and though of vodka?
saw you on the net and woundered our it had worked some of my gooseberry are dark red so will turn out darker.
your’s Carl.
I don’t know if you saw the follow-up post, it’s not very interesting but it shows you what it looked like when it was finished:
https://heracliteanfire.net/2008/09/03/gooseberry-liqueur-again/
it was nice, in fairly small quantities and drunk cold; a strong gooseberry flavour.