Berry Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the berries
Wash, drain, and hull the berries.
Add an equal weight of sugar to the berries.
Crush the berries with the sugar and mix well.
Macerate
Allow the mixture to stand for 24 hours.
Stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.
Jar and store
Seal in glass jars.
Store in a cool, dark place.
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
- Strawberries or raspberries
- Provide the fruit flavour, pectin-free body, and the bulk of the preserve.
- Sugar
- Draws water out of the berries and acts as a preservative, sweetening the fruit and helping it keep.
The step that matters
Stirring until the sugar dissolves. Undissolved sugar left on the surface or at the bottom can crystallise and leave the preserve grainy. Sugar that dissolves fully into the released juice gives a smooth, evenly sweetened result and helps the preserve keep.
“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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