Alpha Bakers -- Gooey Gooseberry Crisp

Few things look as cool as a gooseberry. The veined, translucent globules have fascinated me since they were only a name in British novels, and I've made several memorable gooseberry tarts over the last ten years. When it comes to crisp, though, the gooseberries really fell down. Maybe the culprit was the currants!

I made the gooseberry crisp with a mixture of green gooseberries (underripe = more pectin, no?) and red and white currants (a present from my parents). With all that beautiful fruit, I wanted more from the final effort, which was uninspiring. Oversweet, too buttery, and gooey, this crisp just wasn't the finest expression of gooseberry potential. I'm going back to stone fruits and apples for my crisps, and back to featuring gooseberries in custard tarts.