Barberry Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Cut off the black tops of the barberries.
Roast the fruit over a fire until soft enough to pulp through a sieve into a bowl.
Set the bowl in a saucepan of water or on a hot hearth and stir until thick.
Make the drops
Once cold, mix in 1½ pounds of pounded and sifted sugar.
Beat the sugar and fruit mixture for 2½ hours for a small batch or 3½ hours for a large batch.
Drop the mixture onto sheets of thick white paper.
Ensure no metal touches the juice except for a knife to remove drops from the spoon.
Allow to dry in a dry room.
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 pulp and juice that form the base of the drops.
- Double-refined sugar
- Sweetens the pulp and, once beaten, thickens it into a firm, dryable confection.
The step that matters
Beating the sugar and fruit mixture. Long beating incorporates air and dissolves sugar into the thickened pulp, which sets the texture. Stopping too early can leave the drops soft or grainy, and the mixture needs enough time to hold its shape when dropped.
“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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