Preserved Green Gages
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Prick each green gage with a needle to prevent bursting.
Leave a portion of the stem on each gage.
Make the syrup
Make a syrup by combining 1 pound of sugar with ½ cup of water.
Dissolve ¼ ounce of isinglass in warm water.
Add the dissolved isinglass to the syrup.
Boil the syrup.
Skim off any foam.
Pour the syrup out of the kettle.
Wash the kettle.
Return the syrup to the kettle.
Cook and preserve
Add the fruit.
Boil until the fruit looks clear when held up to the light.
Remove each gage one at a time.
Strain the syrup.
Place the fruit in jars.
Pour the warm syrup over the fruit.
Seal the jars the next day.
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
- Green gages
- Are the fruit being preserved, becoming tender and clear as they cook in the syrup.
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that helps the syrup thicken and set around the fruit.
The step that matters
Boil until the fruit looks clear when held up to the light. Boiling draws syrup into the fruit so it becomes translucent. Stopping too early leaves it opaque and less well preserved, while overcooking can break the skins and turn the fruit mushy.
“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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