In my part of the world we start picking green for cooking and keep picking as they ripen and use accordingly. Gooseberries keep a long time on the bush so you can pick over a long period. Also some cultivars are better suited to dessert eating than others. Really ripe gooseberries of a suitable variety taste as good as sweet white grapes.

Purple and sweet only.

I've heard about gooseberry pies and thought I might have enough berries to make a pie soon. I assumed I would use ripe gooseberries (just like I use ripe blueberries, cherries, etc. to make pies from those fruits), but it did seem like an odd fruit for a pie. Does everyone that makes gooseberry pies use under-ripe gooseberries? Why?