One of the best things about living in Scotland (& I am sure many other parts of the world) is being surrounded by farms and the change in seasons bringing wonderful "seasonal" fruits and veggies fresh from the farm. Best of all, is having a pick your own farm nearby which allows us to go in for a visit and pick fresh farm produce ourselves and pay for them (usually works out cheaper) by weight. Such trips make an excellent day out for the entire family and little children usually enjoy running about and seeing how their favourite fruits and veggies grow. On one such visit recently, we picked some late strawberries and lots of goose berries. I am familiar with Indian goose berries (nellikkai in Tamil) and love them in any form or fashion. The sour variety (aru-nellikkai) in particular is my favourite. Goose berries are rich in Vitamin C and can help fight off infections. The Scottish ones did not look anything like the Indian counterpart. But it tasted quite similar to the aru-nellikkais I knew. In fact, I prefer the Scottish ones since they are more tender and the seeds (yes there are many- unlike the Indian ones) are edible too! So using them to make pickles is a lot easier since I do not have to bother about taking the seeds out. After a days trip enjoying our farm visit, we pickled the gooseberries in both Trinidadian and South-Indian styles. While, Naz & I have both our preferred versions (no points of guessing!), Anjalie liked both of them (seems to depend on her mood) and ever the diplomat she says she likes a little bit of both! We like our pickles spicy so I give the recipe for what I used. But if trying out pickles for the first time, I will suggest to, go a bit easy on the peppers.
