Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Cut and remove seeds from the gooseberries. Gather them when they are fully grown but not ripe.
Put gooseberries in a pan of water to green them, then drain in a sieve.
Mash the gooseberries in a marble mortar with their weight in sugar.
Make the jam
Boil 1 quart of gooseberries in 1 quart of water until mashed, then squeeze out the liquid.
For every pint of liquid, add 1 pound of fine loaf sugar, boil and skim it.
Add the green gooseberries and boil until thick and clear, then transfer to glasses.
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
- Green gooseberries
- Provide the fruit flesh, natural pectin and acidity that help the jam set.
- Fine loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it concentrates, helps it thicken and set while preserving it.
The step that matters
Boil until thick and clear. Gooseberries are rich in pectin and acid, but the jam only sets once enough water has evaporated and sugar is concentrated. Stopping too early leaves it runny, while boiling too long can make it dull and stiff.
“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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