I never use tapioca for thickener unless I am serving someone who is gluten intolerant.....and then they shouldn't be eating pie crust.
I use flour and guestimate a tablespoon of flour for half a cup of liquid. Don't discard the juice that forms when you defrost the fruit....but guess about how much there is, and mix the correct amount of flour with the sugar before you add it to the fruit. I also like the taste that comes with a flour cooked and thickened pie filling.

Thank you! I have tried - and epically failed - to make a flour-thickened pie filling but maybe I was using the wrong flour/juice ratios. These are the only gooseberries I have and I doubt very much if I will ever have any again so I want this to be "the bestest pie ever" (or at least edible!) That's why I thought tapioca might help. Off to start the thawing process. Thanks again.

I use tapioca in fruit pies that would otherwise come up runny, like apple. That's fresh apples cooked in the pie. I don't make the kind of pie where you cook the fruit into jam before baking, and we always have fresh fruit here.

I would think that frozen fruit would have water migration/crystalization, so the tapioca would help firm it up.

For Mom's Apple Pie, I macerate the apple slices overnight with a small amount of sugar and small tapioca, then dump into the crust and bake. I often throw some blueberries into an apple pie just before baking. I've used tapioca flour for other fillings, but I can't remember just now which ones and why. The small pearls in Mom's pie is because she said so. :)

Anyway, extrapolating, I think I'd thaw the berries in the fridge and taste how sour the gooseberries are to determine how much sugar to use. Also make sure you like the gooseberry combined with strawberry. Sugar will become liquid, but will jam up with the tapioca. So if you're using, like, more than a quarter cup of sugar, and also the juice from the berries, I'd use more tapioca, and maybe use flour (or grind pearls--if you have the large pears grind them anyway). But measures? A handful for just the berries. A large handful if using 1/3-1/2 cup sugar. A bit more if also using the liquid from the berries.

Too much tapioca and the filling will stand up solid like jam, but shouldn't affect the flavor.

If you're not soaking the fruit, I don't know if the small pearls will dissolve. They're not unpleasant (I once used the large pearls and they became the "fish eggs" of tapioca pudding--weird but not nasty).. Still, I think if you don't have tapioca flour, you'd be best off putting it through a spice grinder, food processor, or plastic bag in tea towel struck by hammer. Adjust the measurement (handful, or what the recipes said) down for the less air in flour vs. pearls.

Good luck!

I don't want it like solid jam but I don't want to have to chase it all over the kitchen with a roll of paper towels LOL. I didn't think about the fish-egg texture. While the fruit is thawing I will mull over the choices. And I will thaw them separately and mix a little of the 2 juices to see if the flavor is what I am anticipating, thanks for the idea!

It's been ages since I've used tapioca as a pie thickener -- but plllog's suggesting of grinding it is a good one! This is a good short article: How to use tapioca for pies

I've never had gooseberry! I would love to try it some day. I'd grow it if I hadn't read that it has spines. lol! Fwiw, I don't care for fully baked strawberry or blueberry pies... I think it kills the texture and flavor. I always go with a fresh fruit glace pie, but that won't help you if you have all frozen fruit.

Yes indeed, gooseberries - at least the plants from which came the ones I have - have hundreds of thorns. That's why I must use these up. Poor DH looked like he was on the losing end of a catfight when he got done picking!

So, if you don't want it jam solid, just be parsimonious with the tapioca. My apple pies have juice but don't run all over. :)

I have used Minute tapioca (or occasionally half tapioca and half flour) to thicken a pie only if using very juicy fruit and if directed by the recipe (as in a Farm Journal cookbook from the late 1960s). If there isn't enough juice, the very hard beads of tapioca remain after the fruit has cooked in the pie shell. Tapioca seems to produce a clearer pie than flour.

I like tapioca for berry pies and always follow the box instructions. I use flour for peach and apple.

I use tapioca for all my berry pies. Have do so for many years. There does need to be enough juice as stated above. I use what's recommended on the box.

You can also use cornstarch. I really don't like to use tapioca flour and don't like the "fish eye" texture of regular tapioca....even if it's tiny fish eyes.....and if over cooked, tapioca flour thickened stuff can get "ropey"...don't know how else to describe it but a really disgusting texture!

Or forget the pie and make a delicious gooseberry fool.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/gooseberry-fool

I should have taken Islay's advice. Pie - epic fail. Argh. I started out by draining the berries & mixing the juice with sugar & tapioca and let it sit for a little to soften the tapioca. What I found in the pan was some nasty-looking big clumps so I put the whole thing thru a sieve, stirring to retrieve as much of juice & sugar as I could, then mixed the juice with just the gooseberries and cooked them for a while then thickened the juice with a cornstarch slurry. Let it cook to thicken more, took it off the heat & mixed in the strawberries. As I spooned into the pie shell I tried to get mostly fruit with just a bit of the juice. Apparently I did not get near enough of the juice off. Good thing the pie is sitting on a foil-lined sheet pan. The pie erupted all around the edges, blew most of the pinched edge off and juice is everywhere. Ugh.

Or should have followed my advice with the flour mixed with the sugar.
Sorry your lovely gooseberries werent a delicious pie.

Linda, you're right ... I will not make another fruit pie with anything other than flour!! We're going to eat it anyway, just scooped out into bowls rather than sliced.

Oh dear! I really don't think that's to do with the tapioca. I have never had any of the problems with it that Linda mentioned. I should have told you, however, that pearls don't dissolve until they're cooked. To me, the explosion looks like you had too much liquid and that it boiled/steamed with too much force for your crimping to hold in, and your fork holes to let out. I bet it still tastes good! Rename it. Maybe it's a pastry cobbler or a sunhat crumble. :)

Sunhat Crumble - I like that :-)

Thank goodness for sheet pans.

Yeah...Sunhat Crumble...nice!. 👍🏻

I did pick up some of the pastry and swiped it through the overflow. Tasty!

Not surprised...yum!

I'm sorry that didn't work out for you but I do find that tapioca does work really well with berries -I think it might have been draining the juice. I follow the directions exactly on the box and it's always perfect. I like that the filling is extremely clear and not cloudy the way flour gets or the mouthfeel of cornstarch filling.

Sunhat Crumble.... love it!

My first thought was, oh dear, then I saw the crust edges and immediately thought of scooping up some of the overflow as a bit of a snack. ;-)

I agree that the tapioca... or lack-there-of, caused this problem. Sometimes it is hard to judge just how much of any thickener one needs.

There's only been 1 piece of pie cut so far but all the crust pieces are gone :-) DH says I didn't put enough sugar in though. He's diabetic so I used about half sugar and half diabetic-friendly sweetener. Oh well better than too sweet - can always sprinkle more sweetener on.

I am right there with lindac92....no tapioca, ever!! Nasty stuff, nasty texture! I use corn starch as well and have never had an issue with any fruit filled pie being too watery/juicy as a result.

LOL! Used successfully, you can't tell that the tapioca is there. I can always tell that flour or cornstarch has been used. That's why I like tapioca. But it can definitely go wrong, and when it does it can be nasty.

To me, it is impossible to miss the tapioca :-) That's why I avoid most store bought pies as this is what they tend to use. And I can taste flour in pie when used to thicken. But never corn starch.

Gardengal, if you can see or taste the tapioca, they're doing it wrong. It's really subtle, moreso than cornstarch, which is why I use it. But use too much, bake too low, or use too coarse bits and it's most definitely hard to miss. :) I can tell if there's cornstarch in a sauce or pie by a particular texture of the viscosity, but only taste it when there's too much.

I know opinions vary regarding thickeners for pie fillings. I've had great luck with corn starch for years, but you do need to know its strength which is about 2x that of flour. To be fair, I've never used tapioca but haven't found a need to.

Years ago my mom gave me The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It's a good resource with detailed info on just about everything you need to know about making all kinds of pies. That being said, nothing beats experience. We can likely all agree on that. :-)

pillog, it is not the taste of the tapioca, it is the consistency. To me, pies made with tapioca as a thickener are gummy. Not juicy with natural cooked fruit juices but thick and gooey. I have never encountered that with corn starch.

I just don't like it! :-)

I get that. That's too much tapioca! As I said to Edie above, too much and the liquid from the pie gets jammy, and way too much it gets nearly solid. Some people like their pies to cut clean as a whistle with no leakage at all, so maybe that's the theory behind the ones from that store. You might still not like my apple pie, but my apple pie comes out more or less the same juice consistency as with cornstarch, but the tapioca isn't as viscous. (Please, mischievous fairies, don't mess with my pies because I dared say so!)

plllog, sending vibes to keep the fairies at bay! LOL!!

If nothing else, this thread reminded me to buy some Minute Tapioca. That’s what my mother used to thicken her stewed rhubarb, and I loved that stuff. So, naturally, that’s what I use too. I’ve got a bag of frozen that just needs some Minute Tapioca and sugar to revisit those delicious memories.

I’ve never had rhubarb pie except once. My mother-in-law served us some, and the filling was thickened with way too much flour. You couldn’t even taste the rhubarb. Plus, it was too sweet — no tartness at all.

My Mom never made pie with her rhubarb either. Just a tangy, sweet-tart "sauce."

Both my mother and grand mother made lovely rhubarb pies.....as well as sauce. But it wasn't until I married and had my mother in law's pie which was her mother in law's recipe, that I had a rhubarb pie made with eggs and topped with meringue. Delicious!

Linda, my family won't eat rhubarb pie, but your meringue kind sounds good! Is it a recipe you'd care to share?

Here ya go....re the notes....Mel Campbell was my father in law. Grandma Ann was born in 1870, was a farm wife and after her husband died ran a boarding house.

Rhubarb Cream Pie

1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust...in a 9 inch pie pan

3 cups of rhubarb cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 c. sugar

4 T. flour

3 eggs

Add'l 6 T. sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt, 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

Mix flour and sugar and pour over rhubarb in a large bowl,
mix well , separate the eggs and add the beaten yolks to the rhubarb and mix well.
Place in pie shell and bake at 375 for 1 hour until center is bubbly and crust
is brown. Cool slightly.

Beat whites, salt, and cream of tartar until soft peaks
form, add the 6 T. of sugar in batches and continue beating until stiff peaks
form when you raise the beater. place meringue on pie and bake 5 or 6 minutes
at 425 until lightly browned.
This is Grandma Ann Campbell’s recipe….Mel Campbell’s mother.

Lindac92, that pie sounds lovely! I have Campbells in my background also but other than my immediate family that particular line has died out. Wish I had some family recipes!

Thank-you, Linda! That pie sounds so good! I love simple old recipes like this.

... counting the weeks to rhubarb ... [if I survive Covid_19 when it comes]

I love rhubabrb too! especially in pie.... no strawberries please! And, I too have Campbell in my blood line so this old family recipe is something I will have to try.

BUT....I have no Campbell in my blood....I married it! But I do have Stewart and VanDerHoof and Prescott.
also, only strawberries in strawberry pie....or tart!