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Dessert

Red Gooseberries Whole

A preserve made by boiling whole red gooseberries with sugar until the skins become translucent and the syrup thickens.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Red Gooseberries Whole

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Clip off the top of each gooseberry.

  2. Make a small slit in the side of each berry with a needle.

Cook the jam

  1. Combine the gooseberries and sugar in a pot.

  2. Boil gently, skimming off any foam.

  3. When the skins look transparent, remove the fruit with a skimmer and place it in jars.

  4. Continue boiling the syrup until it reaches a jelly‑like consistency.

  5. Strain the syrup and pour it over the fruit in the jars.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Red gooseberries
Provide the fruit, pectin and tartness that give the jam its flavour and structure.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the jam and, by concentrating as the syrup boils, helps it set to a jelly-like consistency.

The step that matters

Continue boiling the syrup to a jelly-like consistency. Sugar and fruit pectin must be concentrated to the right point to set. Too little boiling leaves a runny jam, while overboiling can make it stiff and dull in flavour.

“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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