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gooseberry
Fruit
Trigger checker for gooseberry
See gooseberry rated across every trigger — FODMAP, histamine, salicylate, oxalate, tyramine and more — plus diet compatibility, all in one quick ingredient profile.
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Sensitivities
What gooseberry contains
FODMAPs
Histamine & Amines
Plant compounds
Irritants
Additives
Allergens
Diet fit
Where gooseberry fits
Therapeutic diets
Lifestyle diets
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What to know about gooseberry
Gooseberries are clean on histamine, graded A for both histamine content and histamine liberation, which is unusual for a fruit this sharp. Sourness and histamine are not the same thing, and gooseberry is the proof. The one grade worth planning around is salicylate at C, moderate, concentrated in the skin and higher in the hard green fruit picked early for cooking. On FODMAPs gooseberry is the mildest of the Ribes bushes we cover: it grades B, while red currant and blackcurrant both land at D. Almost nobody eats it raw, so the sugar it is stewed with is part of the trigger picture too.
Watch for
- Salicylate C is the headline.Salicylates sit mainly in the skin, and gooseberries are eaten skin and all, usually as hard green fruit picked deliberately underripe for jam and crumble, which is the stage with the most.
- Gentler than its relatives.Gooseberry, red currant and blackcurrant are all Ribes, but only gooseberry stays at B for total FODMAPs. Red currant grades D for FODMAPs and D for excess fructose, blackcurrant grades D for FODMAPs and D for polyols.
- Mild across the FODMAP subtypes rather than clean: B for excess fructose and B for polyols, so a whole bowl of stewed fruit behaves differently from a spoonful of gooseberry sauce.
- The name is doing a lot of work elsewhere.Cape gooseberry, also sold as goldenberry or physalis, is a nightshade and not related. Indian gooseberry, or amla, and Chinese gooseberry, the old name for kiwi, are also different plants with different trigger profiles. Kiwi in particular grades E for oxalate.
- Gooseberry is so tart it is nearly always cooked with a lot of sugar, poured into a fool with cream, or set into jam.If a gooseberry pudding disagrees with you, work out whether it was the fruit, the sugar or the dairy before writing off the berry.
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FAQ
What does the FODMAP rating mean for gooseberry?
Medium FODMAP: portion size matters more than the ingredient itself.
Is gooseberry generally well tolerated?
Acidic Foods (Avoid) and Salicylates (Moderate) Start with those if you react.
What should I check next?
Compare within the Fruit group.