To Preserve Strawberries Whole
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select ripe strawberries with stems and place them on a dish.
Beat and sift 2 pounds of sugar, then sprinkle it over the strawberries.
Make the syrup
Crush a few ripe strawberries and mix with an equal weight of sugar in a jar.
Cover the jar and place it in boiling water until soft and syrup forms.
Drain the mixture through a muslin cloth into a pan and boil the syrup, skimming off any foam.
Infuse and pack
Once cold, add the whole strawberries to the syrup and warm them gently without boiling.
Repeat warming until the strawberries look clear, then cool them completely.
Pack the strawberries into jars with the stems down and fill with syrup, sealing with brandy paper.
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
- Provide the fruit body, flavour and colour that the syrup penetrates and preserves.
- Sugar
- Draws water out of the fruit and forms a thick syrup that helps preserve it and adds sweetness.
The step that matters
Warming the strawberries gently without boiling. Boiling breaks down the fruit's cell walls and softens it so the berries collapse. Gentle, repeated warming lets sugar slowly draw water out while the berries keep their shape and clear appearance.
“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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