The Historic Foods website offers a splendid Georgian recipe of gooseberries cut as hops and preserved in syrup.
The first printed version of this once popular recipe is found in Elizabeth Smith’s The Compleat Housewife (London: 1727). The instructions seem complex, but the results, as you can see, are visually delightful. In earlier times gooseberries were dried and candied, or made into a sauce served with fish or goose meat.
For a detailed history of the gooseberry, click on the link above.
Watercolour of Gooseberries by Pamela Sweda
Jane Austen's World 