Strawberry Acid
Ingredients
Directions
Macerate the strawberries
Dissolve citric acid in spring water.
Pour the solution over enough ripe strawberries to cover them, and let sit for 24 hours.
Drain the liquid from the strawberries and pour it over fresh strawberries to cover them, storing in a cool place.
Make the syrup
The next day, drain the liquid again and boil it gently for 3-4 minutes with an equal weight of sugar, dissolved in the juice.
Bottle
Once cooled, transfer to small, dry bottles and cork tightly for storage.
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
- Ripe strawberries
- Supply the fruit flavour, colour and body of the preserve.
- Citric acid
- Adds sourness that brightens the fruit flavour and helps the preserve keep.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the juice and, at this concentration, helps preserve the fruit.
The step that matters
Boil the juice gently for 3-4 minutes with the sugar. The sugar must dissolve fully in the juice to reach a concentration that inhibits spoilage. Boiling too long darkens the sugar and dulls the fresh strawberry flavour, while boiling too briefly may leave the syrup too thin to keep well.
“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.
More strawberry preserves recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.