Greengages in Syrup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Choose unripe greengages.
Prick them several times with a fork or needle.
Place them in a pan of cold water as you finish pricking.
Cook the greengages
Heat the greengages gradually in a preserving pan until the water is scalding hot.
Maintain this heat for 1-2 hours.
Remove from heat.
Cover with vine or cabbage leaves.
Let cool in the scalding water.
Reheat the greengages in the same water until they turn a nice green. Boil them once or twice.
Transfer them to cold water.
Drain.
Syrup and soak
Pour a thin syrup made from 1½ pounds of sugar and 1 pint of boiling water over the greengages, ensuring they are fully covered.
Let them sit in the syrup for 2-3 days.
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
- Greengages
- Provide the fruit itself, whose firm unripe flesh holds its shape through the long heating.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit once it is soaked.
The step that matters
Heating gradually and holding at scalding heat. Heating slowly to scalding and holding it, rather than boiling hard, softens the fruit gently while keeping it whole. Fast boiling can split the skins and break the flesh apart.
“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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