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Dessert

To Pyejcrve Red Gooseberries

A preserve made by boiling red gooseberries with sugar and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Pyejcrve Red Gooseberries

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. In a preserving pan, combine the sugar with enough water to dissolve it.

  2. Boil the mixture and skim it well.

Cook the preserve

  1. Add the gooseberries and let them boil briefly.

  2. Set the mixture aside until the next day.

  3. Boil again until the gooseberries look clear and the syrup thickens.

Pot and store

  1. Transfer to pots or glasses, cover with brandy papers, and store for use.

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

Gooseberries
Provide the fruit body and pectin that set the preserve as it cooks down.
Sugar
Sweetens and thickens the syrup, and helps preserve the fruit by drawing out water.

The step that matters

Boil again until the gooseberries look clear and the syrup thickens. Stopping too early leaves the syrup thin and the fruit under-set, while overcooking can make the preserve tough and dark. The sugar concentrates as water evaporates, which is what gives the set.

“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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