Strawberry Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Select the largest and finest strawberries and hull them.
In a pot, combine the sugar with enough water to dissolve it and bring to a boil until it threads in water like taffy.
Cook the strawberries
While the syrup is still boiling, add the strawberries and boil for thirty minutes.
If the syrup does not jell after thirty minutes, carefully lift out the strawberries and place them in cans.
Continue boiling the syrup until it jells.
Invert the cans several times while cooling to prevent the strawberries from rising to the top.
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
- Strawberries
- Provide the fruit body, flavor and bulk of the preserve.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and, when boiled, helps it thicken and set as it cools.
The step that matters
Boiling the syrup until it jells. Sugar and fruit set only when enough water evaporates and the sugar concentration reaches the gel point, so the syrup must be tested carefully rather than judged by time alone. Undercooking leaves it runny; overcooking can make it stiff and sugary.
“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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