Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Select red hairy gooseberries; gather them in dry weather when quite ripe but not too soft.
Weigh the gooseberries and cut off the tops and tails with a pair of scissors.
For every 6 lbs of fruit, prepare 1/2 pint of red‑currant juice drawn as for jelly.
Make the jam
Put the gooseberries and the red‑currant juice into a preserving pan.
Let them boil tolerably quickly, keeping them well stirred.
When the gooseberries begin to break, add the sugar.
Keep simmering until the jam becomes firm, carefully skimming and stirring so it does not burn at the bottom.
Boil the jam for a long time, or it will not keep.
Pot and store
Put the jam into pots that are not too large.
Let the jam get perfectly cold.
Cover the pots with oiled and egged papers, as directed for red‑currant jelly No. 1533.
Store away in a dry place.
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
- Gooseberries (in the method)
- Provide the main fruit body and tartness that shape the jam's flavour.
- Red-currant juice
- Adds natural pectin and acidity to help the jam set.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the jam and, with boiling, helps it thicken and keep.
The step that matters
Boiling the jam long enough to firm up. Jam sets as pectin, acid and sugar concentrate during boiling. Too little boiling leaves it runny and more likely to spoil, while stirring and skimming prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan.
“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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