I’m particularly interested in dessert gooseberries but if there are others you love I would like to know.
I’m interested to see the replies. Have only tried about 4 varieties myself.
(I will say this…I have hundreds of ‘babies’ coming up under a “pixwell” gooseberry…don’t know how true they will come from seed?)
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It may or may not be useful but from all the searching I have done it seems Hinnomaki Red and Poorman are, from what I can tell, the best dessert varieties. I am growing Hinnomaki Red but haven’t tasted it yet and I am still thinking about getting Poorman.
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curious which are considered best for culinary uses too, as I could see making a pie or 2
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I like sweet flavors and bought what is supposedly sweet. Planted last year:
Hinnonmaki Red
Red George
Jeanne
Dax
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So far I’ve tried Hinnomaki Red, Hinnomaki Yellow, Invicta, Black Velvet and Poorman.
Here is my opinion: Poorman is very good. Hinnomaki Yellow is also very good. The knock on it seems to be production. My small shrub produces less than small shrubs of other varieties, but it is only in its third year. I really like Black Velvet a lot. It is sweet along with something else interesting. Some say it has a hint of blueberry. I don’t think that is it, but it’s not too far off either. Invicta was solid, better than I thought it would be. Some say it is a little on the bland side but it seemed sweet enough for me. Most descriptions say Hinno Red has sweet flesh and a slightly sour skin. That is pretty much true, but I enjoyed them a lot more when I treated them like muscadines and just ate the inside. The inside is as sweet as average store bought grapes. I have Red George but didn’t get any yet. Same with Amish Red. I made some kind of dessert with Hinno Red and it seemed to work really well for that. Also it is very productive.
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I really like Black Velvet and St. Jahn’s Praire. I didn’t like hinonmaki red very much at all and wound up tearing that bush out.
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Glad to hear two responses on Hinnonmaki Red. That was gifted to me as a really small rooted cutting from a local friend. I can easily move that to the wild edges that surround my property… and I will.
Seems like I need a Black Velvet.
Dax
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Hello. I wasn’t aware of what a gooseberry was until my wife told me about them. We are living on her family farm here in NE Kentucky, and she said they grew them here when she was younger, and she liked them. Said they tasted like a tart, firm grape, and sweetened up the longer they stayed on the vine.
Anyways, based on her opinion of them, I decided to plant some last year. They were Hinno Red, Poorman, Jeanne and Oregon Champion. The HR croaked over the summer, so I replaced with another one this year. Since they are still young, no fruit to sample yet. The OC is about 2ft tall, so we might get some off that one. I based my selections of other’s opinions of them.
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I’ll get back to you after the season. I’ve got a fair number in ground at the moment and many are flowering well. I got only a handful last year due to young plants, heat, and birds.
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Is it just me or is Hinnomaki Red a really weedy plant? Let me qualify that. Some of my gooseberries are upright bushy plants yet the one I think is HR almost acts like a weeper. I think my tallest stem is about 4 inches tall and nothing on the plant is even approaching pencil thickness…
Maybe I just got a runt… OR maybe it needs more sun/fertility/comething.
Scott
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Thanks for posting this, I just ordered a gooseberry plant from Indiana Berry. I went with a Black Velvet since its description seemed the most interesting even though I couldn’t find much online about the variety - seems like a lot of gooseberry praise is directed towards the Hinnomaki Red. Glad to hear that there are some fans for Black Velvet! I’ve never had a gooseberry before so I’m sure it’ll be interesting.
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Their are many not that well known gooseberries, Like jewel, which is an orange fruit. One grower I saw posted that if he had to keep only one it would be Jewel. I’ll let you know!
Poorman hangs forever, and just becomes sweeter and sweeter. Black Velvet didn’t taste that sweet to me, maybe I’ll let it hang more? I think it would be great for pies, fruit leather, or jam. It is a very productive bush. I like it. It does have a unique flavor, high acid so good for cooking.
These seem to root easily from cuttings so down the road i would not mind trading cuttings.
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I might’ve gotten lucky, but my gooseberries fruited the first year, 2 months after I planted them in 2016. Last year, they fruited even more heavily, for a bush that couldn’t be more than 18 inches tall at the time. My Hinnomaki Red is actually very good, it just needs to hang on for a long time, which it will. Pixwell was a little less sweet, but better suited to some. I also have an Invicta but I’m pretty sure the varmints got a hold of it before I could protect it.
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Sure. I have several Pixwell. A Hinnomaki Red (lots of small thorns, and fruit has a sour skin with sweet insides), Poorman…died a couple years back…but liked it the best so far…good if fully ripened.
I have a Black Velvet which somebody else beat me to the fruit last year…so undecided if I like it, but I think I will.
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Check my annual report for mor details and photos.
I’ve grown Black Velvet, Tixia and Poorman.
Poor man was by far the best for fresh eating. Quarter sized fruit, very sweet. Tricia struggled and was not sweet. Black velvet is vigorous. Less bushy than Poorman, more long canes that would weep/fall. Fruit dark purple and about half the size of Poorman. Not as sweet and quite tangy. I did not like for fresh eating but excellent for culinary and jams. Very productive. You need to net these vs the birds.
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During my daily walkabout, I noticed that my Oregon Champion had maybe half a dozen fruit buds on it, and Jeanne had maybe two or three on it. Wasn’t expecting to see that, so kind of exciting.
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I’ve got a 100 or more little seedlings of Pixwell. Haven’t seen many under Hinnomaki Red. But it is indeed more sprawling than upright…the stems are more flexible and full of tiny thorns like a briar. I have not tried rooting cuttings of gooseberries. (I did try currants and didn’t do too good.) I am doing some ‘root cuttings’ of blackberries currently…I think it will work.
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My Hinnomaki Red is fairly upright and a good producer for its size. It only gets a few hours of direct sun and still fruits. The Poorman next to it only gives me a couple of fruit each year, no doubt due to the lack of sun. In 7A I was worried about them burning up in the heat so probably went too far the into the shade with them. The HR was good, but not as sweet as I might like and as others mentioned had a bit of sourness on the skin. Again, could be sun.
My Hinnomaki Yellow gets more sun, but is a much more prostrate, weepy bush. In fact, it tip rooted a few of the branches last year that were hanging into the mulch. Flavor wise, that is my best. My biggest complaint is the low hanging fruit on the weepy branches seems to be perfect chipmunk height, so it is tough to get my fair share.
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