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Dessert

Greengage Jam

Jam made from greengages, sugar, and boiled until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 2 ingredients
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Greengage Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Add 3/4 lb. of lump sugar to each lb. of fruit.

  2. Divide the greengages, remove the stones, and put them into a preserving pan.

Cook the jam

  1. Bring the fruit to a boil, then add the sugar, and keep stirring over a gentle fire until it is melted.

  2. Remove all the scum as it rises.

  3. Just before the jam is done, boil it rapidly for 5 minutes.

  4. To ascertain when it is sufficiently boiled, pour a little on a plate, and if the syrup thickens and appears firm, it is done.

  5. Have ready half the kernels blanched; put them into the jam, give them one boil.

Pot and cover

  1. Pour the preserve into pots.

  2. When cold, cover down with oiled papers, and over these, tissue paper brushed over on both sides with the white of an egg.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

Lump sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the jam and, as it dissolves, helps it set and keep.
Greengages (in the method)
Provide the fruit base, along with their natural pectin and acidity that help the jam set.

The step that matters

Testing for set on a cold plate. Sugar and fruit must be boiled long enough to concentrate and gel. Under-boiling leaves a runny jam that may spoil, while over-boiling makes it stiff and sugary. A small spoonful on a cold plate that wrinkles or thickens shows when it is ready.

“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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