Babberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Boil barberries with cold water for 15 minutes.
Bruise them with the back of a wooden spoon.
Strain the mixture through a hair-sieve or muslin strainer, then pass the juice through a jelly-bag until clear.
Make the jelly
Weigh the juice and boil it rapidly for 10 minutes.
Stir in an equal weight of powdered sugar until dissolved.
Boil the jelly again for 10 minutes, skim carefully, and pour into warm jars or glasses.
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
- Barberries
- Provide the tart flavour and the natural pectin that lets the jelly set.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and, boiled with the juice, helps it set and keep.
The step that matters
Boiling the jelly again after adding the sugar. Sugar, pectin and acid only form a firm gel when the mixture is concentrated enough by boiling. Too short a boil leaves a runny jelly, while the sugar must be fully dissolved first so it does not crystallise.
“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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