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Dessert

Green Gage Jam

A jam made from ripe greengages cooked with sugar until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Green Gage Jam

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fruit

  1. Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Place the greengages in an earthen pan or jar and bake until soft.

  3. Rub the softened greengages through a fine sieve into a preserving pan.

Make the jam

  1. Add 14 ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of fruit.

  2. Boil the mixture on a brisk fire, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

  3. After about 15 minutes, test the jam by placing a drop on a cool plate; if it sets in a minute or two, it's done.

  4. If it doesn't set, boil for a little longer.

  5. Once done, pour the jam into pots and let it cool.

Seal and store

  1. Cover the tops with brandy-dipped paper, tie securely, and store in a dry room.

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

Greengages
Provide the fruit body, flavour, and natural pectin and acid that help the jam set.
Lump sugar
Sweetens the jam, thickens it as it boils, and helps preserve it and form a set.

The step that matters

Testing for set. Jam sets only when sugar, fruit pectin and acid reach the right concentration through boiling. Testing on a cold plate shows whether it is ready. Stopping too early leaves the jam runny and prone to spoiling, while boiling too long makes it stiff and dull.

“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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