Gooseberry Pie

Since I am a lover of sweet-tart pies (like rhubarb) this pie is now an annual favorite because I can only get the berries once a year. I have always made it with fresh, not frozen. I so appreciated the advice to cut the sugar & increase the berries which I did from the first. I use tapioca starch and it has turned out perfect, not gelatinous but not runny. The first time (see pic) I didn’t have quite enough crust to cover the top, so I just rolled it real thin and centered it on the berries. It let the beautiful color show. So glad I found this recipe.

My two favorite pies are Rhubarb and Gooseberry. I use cornstarch in place of the tapioca and I add a tablespoon or so of margarine.

I made it mostly as written and it was a complete success! My one adjustment was to use 1 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 2 cups. The pie crust was from the Joy of Cooking and it was great, too.

I felt the berry’s needed a little something more. First instead of tapioca I used cornstarch instead . Next I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the mixture in the pan, added a little at a time till I was happy with the the mixing of the flavors.

Just made this for my father for Father’s Day and it was a hit! I followed the suggestions to cut the sugar to 1 1/2 Cups. I used frozen gooseberries had 1/2 Cup of gooseberries let over so just added them to the mix as well. I also dotted the top of the filling with butter just before adding the top crust to the pie. I used a full pie crust on top rather than a lattice top crust. A little butter always makes it better!

This pie was perfect. After reading the reviews, I did 4 cups of berries, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and about a third more of everything else because of the added third in berries. A little extra juicy, so make sure you have a sheet pan under your plate when baking, but along with my homemade crust, it was a good first go. Perfect balance between sugar and berries and it keeps nice in the fridge. I egg white washed the bottom crust before adding the berry mix and egg whites washed plus sugared the top after I put it on instead of milk. Beautiful and yummy…I’ll try it again next year!

I have made this pie several times and my gooseberry pie friends love it. I do tend to use less sugar than in the recipe, as I do with most pie recipes. But sweetness is a matter of personal preference. Instead of tapioca flour, or any other thickener, I use 1/4c of Clear Jel for this one. Earlier tries of this pie ran out because they never set up, but Clear Jel has never let me down. The friend for whom I bake this pie every year told me this year, on a scale of 1 to 10, this one was a 12. Gooseberry is a specific taste that may not appeal to everyone. Baking one smells straight up heavenly in my opinion though! This pie rocks it a la mode as well.

My family still wasn’t a fan although I thought it was pretty good. This is my dads favorite pie in with the tweaks I made. I use frozen berries I pick and save from dads garden. When crushing berries in pan I add 1/2 c water and use 1/4 c tapioca as I do with all fruit pies I make. Rather than milk on my top crust I make up a cinnamon and sugar mixture and sprinkle over before baking. OMG!! This version made every member of my family, including kids and extended family, absolute Gooseberry Pie lovers!!

Added about 1/3 cup of H2O to the initial first 1/2 cup of berries, added the 2 cups slowly to the pan to allow the berries to make the juice and to cook for the first 2 minutes.

I’d give this recipe 5 stars if there weren’t too much sugar in it. Based on other reviews I added 1 1/4 cups sugar instead of 2 cups, and doubled the tapioca since I nearly doubled the berries(thus the need for more thickener). It looks, tastes and smells DELICIOUS.

It was way too sweet. I used 4 cups of gooseberries(more applicable for a 9″ pie as was specified. I used 1 3/4 cup of sugar. Too much still. As to the tapioca. Use 2 Tablespoons plus 2 T. of flour.

Needs to have the tapioca pulsed with the sugar. I forgot to do it and had tapioca eyes!

I’ve noticed a few people have had problems with the sweetness of the pie and also the thickness. There are over 50 types of gooseberries that grow wild in north america. The ones I have nearby, are a purple-red color, quite small, and sweet alone. Or house using a sweeter gooseberry you should definitely cut back the sugar, the moisture content may have also sabatoged your setting. Usually the green spikey gooseberries do well in pies, but depending on the type of berry, any recipe would need some adjustments. I’m giving 5 stars, because as is,this is pretty much a traditional green gooseberry pie, and should set nicely, though those like myself, should use slightly less sugar, and more tapioca. Cornstarch is a good alternative, but make sure you cook it enough that the cornstarch flavor will cook away, it doesn’t take long. Maybe a minute or two, which you’ll need to thicken it up anyway. I say a lg. Tablespoon full should do the trick, add it with the tapioca, just put it in some water first, so it isn’t lumpy when added to your heated mixture. Anyway, I guess all im really trying to say, is taste your berries first for sweetness, and maybe try to identify the exact type of gooseberry you used when making this recipe. In sure plenty of people were disappointed, especially as I know how long it takes to get these little buggers, but with a little knowledge you can avoid wasting your efforts. Hope everyone has a plesant experience with this pie. Gooseberry is my dad’s second

Good use of gooseberry. Easy to make except for de-stemming the gooseberries. The pie was good. I thought it tasted a bit like cherry pie but others disagreed. Regardless everyone enjoyed it.

My family has always had an abundance of wild gooseberry bushes out in our pasture. I was really excited to find the thornless bushes on the side of out garage at our new home were black currants. Both of these fruits have a similar texture and tartness level. I have been using this recipe to make black currant pie, and it turns out great too! (It’s just a deep purple hue.) A must for my family members who love the zing and tartness of the wild fruits in our area. I just use the prepared crusts you can purchase at your local store and use a few more whole berries to fit the size of my deep dish pie plate and voila! It’s a hit!

This is the only recipe I use now for my gooseberry pie! I have tried many recipes and from now on this will be the only one I use. I did cut the sugar back 1/2 cup for the riper berries. This pie with a pie crust with vinegar and eggs is A+++++++!

The recipe calls for way too much sugar, as others have said. The 3 star rating is for that – I made mine with only one cup of sugar, and it was perfect – still a little tart, like what you expect with gooseberry pie, but not too sweet. This recipe is very similar to the one I grew up with, except instead of tapioca, my family used a little flour to thicken it up. I also like to sprinkle a little cinnamon in while cooking. I love gooseberry pie! Glad to see a recipe on here for it.

I gave this recipe a try and used only 1.5 cups of sugar as others recommended. My family and I absolutely LOVED it. I’m just sad I only had enough berries for one pie.

Just like my grandmothers! I don’t own a pie server so the crust got a little mangled in this picture, but it tasted wonderful. It is going to only look like enough filling for 1 pie, but follow the recipe. It really is 2 pies.

Sometimes things develop after a trip to the Farmer’s Market – like what to do with gooseberries? I’ve tried this recipe twice so far and worked out the kinks after the first attempt. Like others, I cut the sugar to 1 1/2 cups and in order to make it more pleasing to the little eyes in my house, I ground the tapioca in the coffee grinder so that it became a powder. I also took a bit longer in the “cook and stir until the mixture boils” step. It ends up becoming syrup-like, which made for a better tasting pie overall. Tart, delicious and unique – I’m tempted to try to set aside space in the yard to grow the berries now!

not a great gooseberry pie in my opinion. wish I’d trusted my gut and dropped the sugar down and added more tapioca. I also agree 3C berries is not enough for a 9″ pie plate.