The Gooseberry

John Humphries and Sarah Montague, of the BBC's Today Programme on Radio 4, were leading a debate this morning about the humble gooseberry, its degree of popularity and why it is not produced commercially.

My dear grandmother used to have a gooseberry bush in her garden.

They couldn't concur on its pronunciation, either.

According to my Nuttall's, it is pronounced gooz-be-re.

Nuttall also, quite helpfully, has a definition for gooseberry-fool:-

Scalded gooseberries forced through a sieve and beaten up with cream (Fr. foulé).