gooseberry lore and more, with josh kilmer-purcell

ONE OF THE FIRST FRUITS that Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge planted when they took ownership of historic Beekman 1802 farm in Sharon Springs, New York: gooseberries.  Now the city-turned-country pair are having a bumper gooseberry year—and Josh joined me on the radio to talk about that and other aspects of “The Heirloom Life,” the subject of the duo’s breakfast slide lecture in my town August 17 to help celebrate my next garden Open Day. I’ve pre-ordered a couple of copies of the “Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook” (due out in September) to share with some lucky winners, so read on for a chance to win–and some gooseberry lore, recipes and more.

“It’s my single-handed mission to bring gooseberries back into popular culture,” says Josh, who showcases this “underrated fruit” regularly on the Beekman1802 website (and yes, there are recipes inthe new cookbook, due next month from Rodale Press). Neither Josh nor Brent could even recall eating a gooseberry until they grew their own, however.

There weren’t actually any gooseberries growing at the landmark Beekman property, either, when Josh and Brent took ownership in 2007. While tackling the garden cleanup, they uncovered some currant bushes—botanical cousins to the gooseberry in the genus Ribes.  It was through subsequent reading about black and red currants that Josh and Brent came upon listings for gooseberries, and ordered about a dozen different varieties.

That was also how they came upon the fascinating story of the gooseberry’s history—once a much-prized treasure and now relatively uncommon by comparison.

The reason for their fall from popularity resulted from what Josh calls “a double whammy.” They were a giant fad, or craze, in the 19th century, when gooseberry