Barberry Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Extract the juice
Combine barberries and cold water in a pot and boil for 15 minutes.
Bruise the barberries with the back of a wooden spoon.
Strain the mixture through a muslin strainer or hair-sieve, then pass the juice through a jelly bag until clear.
Make the jelly
Weigh the clear juice and boil it rapidly for 10 minutes.
Stir in an equal weight of fine powdered sugar until dissolved.
Boil the jelly again for 10 minutes, skim off any foam, 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 natural pectin that gives the jelly its set and character.
- Fine powdered sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps it set by binding water and firming the pectin network.
The step that matters
Passing the juice through the jelly bag until clear. Any solid particles left in the juice will cloud the finished jelly and can make it grainy. Straining slowly and patiently gives a clear, bright set. Pressing the bag hard forces cloudy pulp through, so let gravity do most of the work.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.