In Season: Gooseberries

When travelling it’s always an awesome idea to check out the local cuisine and experience the local foods that you’ve never tried before. As a tropical island, Barbados is host to a number of unique fruits that grow exclusively in hot climates; this makes your visit to Barbados a perfect time to indulge in all the unique fruits which grow here. Not only is Barbados the birthplace of the ever popular grapefruit, it also one of the few places where the Phyllanthus acidus fruit, locally known as the gooseberry fruit, grows naturally. This small round berry packs quite a punch! When ripe the gooseberry is yellow in colour with a very tart flavor; this makes it perfect for jams and syrups, as it’s usually sold. The soft juicy flesh of the gooseberry covers a large seed which can be found at the center of the fruit, so be careful not to swallow it. When walking through Bridgetown this month be sure to stop and buy some tasty gooseberries to enjoy!