Homemade Gooseberry Sauce for Meat (for Winter)

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   Gather all the ingredients. The quantities here yield about a pint (0.5 L) of finished gooseberry sauce. Green gooseberries make a more sour, tart seasoning, while red ones give a milder result — but either works with meat. The khmeli-suneli (a Georgian spice blend) is what makes it a natural match for meat.

2. Step 2:

   

   Prep the gooseberries: pick them over, rinse under running water, and pat dry. If you have the patience to trim the blossom and stem ends, even better — ordinary nail scissors work well for this.

3. Step 3:

   

   Put the prepared gooseberries in a pot and add 2–3 tablespoons of water. Leave them overnight, or at least 3–4 hours, in a cool spot.

4. Step 4:

   

   For long-term storage, it's best to wash the jars with baking soda and sterilize them. Sterilize the lids by boiling them for 10 minutes.

5. Step 5:

   

   Set the pot of gooseberries over low heat. Simmer the berries gently until soft, about 10 minutes.

6. Step 6:

   

   You can make the sauce from whole berries or from berries run through a meat grinder. If you press the puréed mixture through a sieve after grinding, the sauce will be smoother and more delicate, with no seeds. I simply blitzed everything in the pot with an immersion blender.

7. Step 7:

   

   Stir the sugar and salt into the gooseberry purée. Never use fine or iodized salt for canning — coarse plain salt or pickling salt is best. Cook the sauce until the sugar and salt dissolve.

8. Step 8:

   

   Add the khmeli-suneli and pressed garlic, and cook the sauce for another 10 minutes.

9. Step 9:

   

   Stir the oil and vinegar into the gooseberry sauce.

10. Step 10:

    

    Divide the sauce among the prepared jars and seal them tightly. The seal must be airtight, so use only twist-off lids or lids crimped on with a canning tool.