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Dessert

Green Gooseberry Solid

A firm dessert made by boiling gooseberries, adding sugar, and setting the mixture in shallow pans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Green Gooseberry Solid

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Bruise the gooseberries well.

Cook

  1. Boil them for 1 hour and 15 minutes without sugar.

  2. Stir in the sugar.

  3. Continue boiling for another 30 minutes.

Set and serve

  1. Press the mixture into shallow pans or small shapes.

  2. Unmould the solid when ready to serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Gooseberries
Provide the fruit, pectin and tartness that give the solid its body and flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, once boiled with the fruit, helps the mixture thicken and set firm.

The step that matters

Continue boiling after adding the sugar. Sugar must dissolve fully and the mixture must cook long enough to concentrate and reach a set point, so the solid holds its shape when unmoulded. Undercooking leaves it soft and runny.

“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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