Woody tasting gooseberries

[victheviking]

Hi everyone!
Does anybody know why my gooseberries taste woody?
Picked 3kg of them on Sunday, cooked down ready to freeze on Monday, sampled last night in a crumble and it was horrid!
Very strong woody taste.
The bushes are only 1 year old but produced an abundance of lovely red gooseberries, but they dont taste nice at all.
Have i done something wrong?

[nickdub]

What was the weather like when they were growing and how ripe were the berries ?

Also if the bush was very young it might have tried to crop more than it could manage. Thinning off some fruit when little to get fewer but larger berries might be worth trying next year.

[victheviking]

Thanks for the reply nickdub. The weather up north has generally been cool and wet with a few hot sunny days.
The berries were ripe (felt like a grape when squeezed)and plentiful 3kg off just 3 bushes. They were a good size, about the size of an olive. They taste sweet and gooseberry but with an underlying taste of wood.
They gave a good fight when being picked, i have the scars to prove it!
I did mulch with bark chippings in the spring and wondered if this could have tainted the flavour?

[nickdub]

No it wouldn't be the mulch. Not sure what to suggest . Hopefully be better next year. What colour were they BTW ?
Nick

[boundtothesoil]

Very strong woody taste.

Did you 'top and tail' them before cooking? Just an unlikely thought, but I wonder if the browny 'top' bit tastes woody.

[victheviking]

Nickdub, i have 2 red ones and 1 green. Think it was the red that tasted woody, but cooked them all together so hard to be certain. Boundtothesoil, yes i did top and tail them, took hours!
Think i'll have to put in down to bad luck, hopefully they will taste better next year!

[nickdub]

I give in :-), perhaps the wooden saucepans were in retrospect a bad idea ?

[BUFFS]

Nickdub, i have 2 red ones and 1 green. Think it was the red that tasted woody, but cooked them all together so hard to be certain. Boundtothesoil, yes i did top and tail them, took hours!
Think i'll have to put in down to bad luck, hopefully they will taste better next year!

top and tailing them, two and a bit buckets plus each year, a real pain in the butt job, if they didn't taste so good (left on plant til soft and sweet) I wouldn't even entertain the idea, but mousses, ice cream, sorbets and jams means if I want them, OH says I can do the topping, alas..