Greengage Preserve
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Place the fruit in a wire basket or butter muslin and immerse in boiling water.
When the skins loosen, remove them from the water and peel.
Weigh the fruit and use 1 pound of sugar for every pound of fruit.
Layer the fruit and sugar in a basin and let it stand overnight.
Make the syrup
The next morning, draw off the juice that has formed and boil it, skimming off any scum.
When the syrup is clear, add the fruit and cook gently for about 30 minutes until the fruit is clear and tender.
Remove the fruit and boil the syrup until it reaches your desired thickness.
Return the fruit to the syrup, bring to a boil, and fill into dry, sterilized jars.
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
- Greengage fruit
- Provides the main flavour and, once cooked, the soft fruit texture of the preserve.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, by drawing out juice and thickening the syrup, helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Skimming the syrup. Scum rises as the juice boils and, if left in, cloudies the syrup and can spoil the flavour. Removing it keeps the syrup clear and the preserve clean-tasting.
“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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