Gooseberry
Scientific Name: Ribes
Family Name:
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Currants have been grown in Italy for at least four centuries according to an entry in a Florentine recipe book, circa 1550, and according to which a "grape of the monks," with similar characteristics to those known today for some species of Ribes, was grown on Mount Vernia. It now seems certain that the name Ribes is derived from the Arabic ribas. This term identified a rhubarb grown by the Arabs in the Lebanon as a medicinal essence. When, shortly after the beginning of the eighth century, the Arabs conquered Spain and found themselves without their ribas, they looked for something similar, and finding the gooseberry, called it ribas. It is strange that today the old Arabic term has been preserved only in Italian in the common name of one of the species, while it has disappeared in other western languages. In French this plant is called groseillier, in Spanish grosellero, and in English it is called current. The Ribes grossularia, known in Italy as spiny grape (uva spina), is the English gooseberry and is called in German, stachelberre. The gooseberry (R. grossularia) is a species native to Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It is a spiny shrub that produced sourer fruits than those of the currant, of variable size, green, yellow, white or red, with a juicy flesh. It is hairy or smooth depending on the variety. The gooseberry is becoming less and less common in parts of Europe and the United States, where it is losing its popularity. In France and especially in England, it is very much in demand. European varieties have very large fruits that are excellent for jams and preserves. Gooseberry wine can be made by fermentation of the fruits of R. grossularia, and often has a high alcoholic content. The most important American species if R. hirtellum. As mackerel is traditionally served with a gooseberry sauce in France, its French name is groseille à maquereau. [Bianchini, Francesco, Corbetta, Francesco, Pistoia, Marilena, The Complete Book of Fruits and Vegetables, United States Translation: Crown Publishers, New York, 1976; Originally published in Italy as I Frutti della Terra, Arnoldo Mondadori Publisher, Italy, 1973]