Gooseberries, Bottled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gooseberries
Pick off the bloom and any part of the stem from the gooseberries.
Place the gooseberries in dry black glass bottles.
Drive the corks about an inch into the neck of the bottles.
Bottle and seal
Set the bottles in an oven filled with water up to the necks.
Heat the oven until the water boils slowly and the gooseberries turn light yellow.
Remove from heat and let cool, then seal the bottles with the corks.
Store the bottles in a dry cellar.
Prepare for tarts
To prepare for tarts, stew the gooseberries on a hot fire for about 15 minutes until they turn light green.
For each quart bottle, add 1 pound of loaf sugar, ½ cup of water, and 1 teaspoon of alum.
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
- The main fruit, which holds its shape and supplies the tart flavor of the preserve.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it against spoilage.
- Alum
- Firms the fruit so it keeps its texture during processing and storage.
The step that matters
Heating the bottles in the water bath. The water must only boil slowly. Vigorous boiling can crack the glass or disturb the corks, and overheating can soften the fruit. Stop once the gooseberries turn light yellow.
“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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