Peeserved Cherries
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Stone the fruit, weigh it, and for every pound take three-quarters of a pound of sugar.
Make the syrup and cook
First dissolve the sugar in water in the proportion of a pint of water to a pound and a half of sugar.
Then add the fruit and let it boil as fast as possible for half an hour, till it begins to jelly.
Pot and seal
As soon as it thickens, put it in pots; cover with brandied paper, next the fruit, and then cover closely from the air.
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. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, at high concentration, helps preserve it and thickens the syrup as it cooks.
- Cherries (in the method)
- Supply the main fruit flavour, and their natural pectin helps the syrup set as it boils down.
The step that matters
Boil until it just begins to jelly. A fast, sustained boil concentrates the sugar and lets pectin set the syrup. Stopping as it begins to jelly avoids a stiff, over-reduced result. Underboiling leaves the syrup runny and more likely to spoil.
“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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