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Dessert

To Preserve Barberries in Bunches

A method for preserving barberries in syrup by boiling sugar and water, then adding berries and cooling in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Preserve Barberries in Bunches

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar in water for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.

Cook the berries

  1. Add the barberries and heat gently.

  2. Boil for 5 to 7 minutes until transparent.

  3. Press the berries down into the syrup until they burst.

Jar and store

  1. Transfer to jars and cover with skin or thick paper once cool.

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

Barberries
Provide the tart fruit flavour and the berries that soften and burst in the syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, at this concentration, helps preserve it by binding water.

The step that matters

Boiling the barberries for 5 to 7 minutes. The berries must be cooked until transparent so syrup penetrates the skins. Boiling too long can break the fruit down, while stopping early leaves it less saturated with sugar and less well preserved.

“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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