Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit and juice
Gather gooseberries in dry weather, cut off tops and tails.
Prepare 1 quart of red-currant juice.
Make the jam
Put the juice into a preserving pan with 5 lbs loaf sugar, stir until sugar dissolved.
Keep boiling for about 5 minutes, skim well.
Add gooseberries, boil from ½ to ¾ hour.
Turn the whole into an earthen pan, let remain for 2 days.
Boil the jam again until it looks clear.
Pot and store
Put into pots, let cool.
Cover with oiled paper, then over the jars put tissue paper brushed over both sides with the white of an egg.
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 flavour and, with their natural pectin, help the jam set.
- Red-currant juice
- Adds acidity and pectin to help the jam gel.
- Loaf sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the jam and, through its concentration, helps it set and keep.
The step that matters
Boiling the jam again until it looks clear. Boiling too briefly leaves the jam runny, while overcooking can darken it and make it sticky. Pectin and sugar need enough heat and concentration to gel.
“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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