Fruit Preserves
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Dissolve ¼ ounce of isinglass in warm water.
Combine the dissolved isinglass with 6 pounds of sugar over heat.
Boil the mixture and skim off any foam.
Pour the syrup out of the kettle and wash the kettle.
Cook the fruit
Return the syrup to the kettle, add the fruit, and boil until clear.
Jar the preserves
Remove the fruit one at a time, strain the syrup, and place the fruit in jars.
Pour the warm syrup over the fruit and 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the preserve and, at high concentration, helps preserve it and form its set.
- Isinglass
- Acts as a gelling agent that helps the syrup set and clarify.
- Fruit
- Provides the main flavor and the pieces suspended in the set syrup.
The step that matters
Boil until clear. Boiling until clear concentrates the sugar and lets the isinglass set the syrup. Stop too early and the preserve stays cloudy and runny; boil too long and the fruit can break down and the syrup turns too thick.
“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.
More fruit preserves recipes
You might also like
Green Corn Pudding64 recipes
Cornmeal mush12 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.