Very Fine Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the juice
Seed the larger rough red gooseberries and scoop out the pulp.
Add the pulp to some whole gooseberries and stir over moderate heat to extract the juice.
Strain the mixture and weigh the juice.
Cook the jam
Pour 2 lbs of juice into 4 lbs of seeded gooseberries and boil gently for 25 minutes.
Add 14 oz of sugar for each pound of fruit and juice, stirring until dissolved.
Boil the preserve for an additional 12 to 15 minutes, skimming well during cooking.
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 body, pectin and tartness that give the jam its structure and flavor.
- Juice from gooseberries
- Adds extra pectin and liquid so the fruit cooks down evenly into a set preserve.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, at this concentration, helps it gel and keeps it preserved.
The step that matters
Boil the preserve after adding sugar. Sugar must dissolve fully before the long boil, and the mixture must reach a rolling boil to set. Undissolved sugar can crystallize, and undercooking leaves the jam runny.
“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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