Greengages in Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prick the greengages with copper needles.
Soak the greengages in cold water with 1 ounce of alum for every 3 gallons for 1 hour.
Firm and rinse
In a kettle, add fresh cold water and heat slowly without boiling.
When the greengages rise to the surface, use a skimmer to remove them.
Place the greengages in cold water with 1 ounce of alum for every 5 gallons for 15 minutes.
Rinse the greengages under cold running water.
Pack and process
Pack the greengages into cans or jars.
Fill the cans or jars with syrup.
Process quart cans for 10 minutes in boiling water.
Process pint cans for 7 minutes in boiling water.
Allow jars to cool in the processing tank for 10 minutes.
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
- Unripe greengages
- The fruit itself; its firm flesh holds its shape through the alum and syrup treatment.
- Alum
- Firms the fruit by tightening its tissues, so it stays intact during heating and processing.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness and fills the jars, flavouring the fruit and covering it in the preserving liquid.
The step that matters
Heat slowly without boiling. Keeping the water below a boil heats the fruit gently and evenly. Boiling can soften and split the skins unevenly, so the greengages lose the firmness the alum is meant to give.
“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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