Directions for Preserving
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Wash and prepare fresh, firm fruit, ensuring it is not over-ripe.
Boil sugar and water for 10 minutes to create a thin syrup.
Cook the fruit
Cook small batches of fruit in the syrup until tender.
Jar and seal
Fill sterilized jars with fruit and pour in enough syrup to overflow.
Add boiling water if syrup is insufficient to fill jars.
Use a spoon to release air bubbles from the jars.
Seal jars with sterilized covers and let them cool.
Check that jars are air-tight after cooling.
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
- Fruit
- Provides the flavour and bulk of the preserve, softening as it cooks in the syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and helps preserve the fruit by binding water.
The step that matters
Release air bubbles from the jars. Trapped air can leave pockets that spoil the preserve and prevent a proper airtight seal. Removing them with a spoon lets the syrup fill the spaces around the fruit.
“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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