Good Common Preserve
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pulp
Boil the fruit until soft enough to press through a sieve.
Weigh the pulp and boil it over a brisk fire for 30 minutes.
Make the preserve
Add ½ pound of sugar for each pound of fruit.
Boil quickly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring and skimming as needed.
If using cherries, stew them separately until tender before adding.
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
- Fruit
- Provides the pulp, flavour and natural pectin that gives the preserve its body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and helps it thicken and keep by binding water.
The step that matters
Boil quickly after adding the sugar. Sugar must be dissolved and the mixture boiled hard enough to reach a thick set. Boiling too gently can leave the preserve runny, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.
“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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