Gooseberry Fizz Cocktail Recipe

Summertime is bursting with delicious fresh produce ready to be turned into a veritable feast of foods and drinks, and one criminally underrated fruit is the humble gooseberry. Year after year this tangy fruity berry is overlooked in favor of other garden favorites, such as strawberries and raspberries, but this small, grape-like fruit has a lot to offer if given the chance.

This gooseberry fizz cocktail, created by Tasting Table recipe developer Jennine Rye, celebrates this oft less-cherished fruit by making it the centerpiece in this charming and sophisticated drink. Fresh gooseberries are used to make a syrup that showcases the unique flavor of this early summer fruit, with the natural tartness of the gooseberry balanced out by the sweetness of the syrup. This is then simply served with a squeeze of fresh lemon and topped up with chilled Prosecco for a delightful fizz, creating a wonderfully refreshing drink with an unusual fruity finish. The final touch is a garnish of sweet-tart candied gooseberries that are surprisingly easy to make. So, if you are looking for a different kind of drink with which to enjoy the best of seasonal produce this summertime, why not give this gooseberry fizz cocktail a go, and celebrate the unique qualities of this surprisingly flavorful berry?

To begin this gooseberry fizz cocktail recipe, first you will need to gather the ingredients. For the gooseberry syrup, you will want gooseberries and sugar, along with water. For the candied gooseberries, you will want more gooseberries and sugar, as well as a pinch of cream of tartar. To complete the cocktail you will want fresh lemon juice and chilled Prosecco.

To make the gooseberry syrup, add the sugar, water, and gooseberries to a saucepan.

Muddle the gooseberries in the pan using a potato masher.

Gently heat the pan over a medium heat until the mixture is simmering.

Leave the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes, gently mashing the gooseberries into the mixture once in a while.

Remove the mixture from the heat and set to one side to cool for 30 minutes.

Strain the mixture through a fine sieve, discarding the sieved pulp.

To make the candied gooseberries, slide two gooseberries each onto 4 cocktail sticks.

Add the sugar, water, and cream of tartar to a saucepan.

Heat the mixture over a medium heat, until a candy thermometer reads 300 F.

Carefully tilt the pan and dip the gooseberries into the hot mixture, twisting the sticks to make sure they are fully coated.

Let the candied gooseberries harden for a few minutes.

To mix the cocktail, add 1 tablespoon of gooseberry syrup and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to each glass.

Top the glasses up with the Prosecco.

Add candied gooseberries as a garnish, and serve immediately.

Chances are, if you were raised in the U.S., you'll have had limited experience of gooseberries. These seasonal berries were actually federally banned in the US for several decades due to the gooseberry plant carrying a particular disease that threatened other plant species. And, while the gooseberry bush ban was officially lifted in the 1960s, a few U.S. states still hold to the ecological ban to this day. Thus gooseberries have remained largely uncultivated as a native fruit species in the U.S. Thankfully, however, these days it is usually possible to get hold of a punnet of gooseberries when the season is right, so you can enjoy this oft-overlooked early summer produce.

Gooseberries are grown on bushes and they look somewhat like grapes, with slightly translucent skin that comes in a variety of colors from pale green to golden to red. With a firm texture and a taste that can range from sweet to quite sour and tangy, this early summer fruit can be enjoyed in a variety of different ways. The green varieties tend to be more tart and are thus mostly used for cooking. They are found in popular British summertime desserts such as the gooseberry fool or gooseberry crumbles. Gooseberries are also commonly used in jellies and jams, they make a great chutney, as well as being great for home freezing, and they pair really well with other early summertime produce such as elderflower.

Some may think that a garnish is simply an aesthetic afterthought when it comes to designing a delicious cocktail. The truth is that the correct garnish can elevate any drink by adding different textures, flavors, and even aromas to the drink, as well as that all-important visual element. The candied gooseberry garnish in this recipe provides extra sweetness, a pop of fruitiness, and a fun crunch, creating a playful element to this otherwise sophisticated cocktail: So we recommend not skipping the garnish step.

If you don't happen to own a candy thermometer, don't worry. While it makes things easier when heating sugar, it is still possible to get that perfect crunch through other tried and tested means. One such method, often used when making tanghulu, is called the chopstick test. When the sugar is hot enough that it is bubbling, simply dip a chopstick into the hot sugar mixture and then immediately plunge it into a glass of ice-cold water. After a few seconds, remove the now-cold chopstick and bite into it. If the sugar is hard and shatters into crunchy shards, your sugar is at the right temperature. If it is still a bit sticky, you'll want to leave it bubbling a little longer. Similarly, you can use a spoon to carefully drip a little of the hot sugar into ice-cold water, and when it comes out brittle and crunchy, your candy coating is ready to be used.