To Dry Ripe Gooseberries with Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gooseberries
Cut the tops off the gooseberries, leaving the stalks intact.
Remove the seeds from the gooseberries as directed for unripe ones.
Make the syrup and soak
Boil the gooseberries in a syrup made from ½ lb sugar and 1 pint water until clear and tender, about 8 to 12 minutes.
Place the gooseberries in cold syrup that has been used for other fruits.
Gradually heat the mixture to boiling and maintain for a few minutes.
Let the gooseberries sit in the syrup for a couple of days.
Drain the syrup from the gooseberries.
Simmer and skim the syrup.
Pour the syrup over the gooseberries immediately.
Dry and finish
Drain the gooseberries and lay them out singly on plates or dishes.
Place the dishes in a gentle oven to dry.
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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit that is softened, sweetened and dried into chewy pieces.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, in a concentrated syrup, helps preserve it and limit moisture.
The step that matters
Pour the syrup over the gooseberries immediately. Syrup must be hot when poured so the fruit keeps absorbing sugar evenly. Cooling or delay lets the fruit shrink and the sugar penetrate unevenly.
“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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