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Dessert

To Preserve Berries Whole

Preserves berries whole by boiling them with sugar syrup and canning them in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Preserve Berries Whole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Pick over the berries and wash them if necessary.

  2. Fill glass jars about two-thirds full with the berries.

Make the syrup and fill the jars

  1. In a preserving kettle, combine 1 pound of sugar and 1 cup of water for every 2 pounds of fruit and bring to a slow boil.

  2. Pour the syrup over the berries in the jars, filling them to the brim.

Heat and seal

  1. Place the jars in a pot of cold water on the stove and bring the water to a boil until the fruit is scalding hot.

  2. Remove the jars and seal them tightly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Berries
Provide the fruit that is preserved whole in the jars.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and helps preserve its flavor and texture in the syrup.
Water
Dissolves the sugar to form the syrup that covers the berries.

The step that matters

Filling the jars to the brim with syrup. Syrup must completely cover the fruit and leave little headspace, so air is pushed out and the fruit stays submerged. Air pockets left in the jar can let fruit discolor or spoil during storage.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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