To Keep Gooseberries

Ingredients

• Gooseberries
• Wide-mouthed bottles
• Coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
• Roche-alum

Directions

1. Gather gooseberries before they become too large, taking care not to cut them.

2. Fill wide-mouthed bottles with the gooseberries and loosely cork them.

3. Set the bottles upright in a boiler filled with water up to the neck.

4. When the fruit looks scalded, remove the bottles and let them cool completely.

5. Cork the bottles tightly and seal the tops with rosin.

6. Dig a trench in a less-used part of the garden deep enough to bury the bottles by a foot and a half.

7. Cover the bottles with earth and add fresh stable litter during frost to prevent hardening.