I was in Manchester yesterday and popped into an old haunt, Appna Food Stores, to stock up on spices and pickles. In amongst the lime pickle and mango pickle was this jar of Gooseberry pickle, which I couldn't resist bringing home to try.

After a bit of research it turns out this is a pickle made from Indian Gooseberries (nellakai in tamil, amla in hindi) as opposed to the commen or garden English gooseberry. Bit of a shame as I had grand plans to turn the gooseberries from our overladen bushes in the garden into something hot and spicy.

The ingredients are listed as Gooseberries, Salt, Red Chilly, Mustard, Turmeric, Asafoetida, Ginger, Garlic, Vinegar and Gingelly Oil.
I'd assumed the last ingredient was an incorrect spelling of gingery oil, but it turns out to be sesame oil.

I've found a marvellous looking recipe with pictures on the tickling palates blog, which would be good to have a go at if I can find some of the fresh fruit next time I'm near supermarket a bit more exciting than Morrisons.

The pickle itself tastes extremely hot, as you might expect, with a sour note from the fruit. The Indian gooseberries are much more crunchy and firm than ripe English ones would be.