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Dessert

Gooseberry Cheese

A preserve made by cooking gooseberries with sugar until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Gooseberry Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Gather the ripe red gooseberries.

  2. Boil the gooseberries until they are completely mashed.

  3. Pass the mashed gooseberries through a fine sieve.

Make the cheese

  1. Transfer the sieved gooseberries to a preserving pan and boil gently.

  2. Add 6 ounces of sugar for every 2 pounds of gooseberries.

  3. Boil for several hours until the mixture thickens properly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Ripe red gooseberries
Provide the fruit pulp and natural pectin that give the cheese its body and set.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture thicken and set as water evaporates.

The step that matters

Boiling until the mixture thickens properly. Sugar and fruit pectin only set into a firm, spreadable cheese once enough water has evaporated through long, gentle boiling. Stopping early leaves a runny result that may not hold its shape or keep well.

“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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