Preserved Green Gages
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Prick each green gage with a needle to prevent bursting.
Leave a portion of the stem on each gage.
Make the syrup
Make a syrup by combining 1 pound of sugar with ½ cup of water.
Dissolve ¼ ounce of isinglass in warm water.
Add the dissolved isinglass to every 6 pounds of sugar.
Boil the syrup until the sugar is dissolved.
Skim the boiled syrup.
Pour the syrup out of the kettle.
Wash the kettle.
Return the syrup to the kettle.
Cook and jar
Add the fruit to the kettle.
Boil until the fruit looks clear when held up to the light.
Remove each gage one at a time.
Strain the syrup.
Place the fruit in jars.
Pour the warm syrup over the fruit.
Seal the jars the next day.
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
- Green gages
- Form the fruit itself, which turns clear and tender as it cooks in the syrup.
- Sugar
- Preserves the fruit and sweetens it while thickening the syrup as it boils.
- Isinglass
- Gelatinous fish-derived agent that helps the syrup set and keeps the fruit suspended.
The step that matters
Boil until the fruit looks clear. Boiling draws sugar into the fruit gradually; stopping too early leaves it opaque and less preserved, while overcooking can split or collapse the skins.
“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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