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Dessert

Barberry Jelly

A sweet jelly made from boiled barberries, water, and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Barberry Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Make the juice

  1. Combine barberries and cold water in a pot and boil for 15 minutes.

  2. Bruise the barberries with the back of a wooden spoon.

  3. Pour the mixture into a fine sieve or muslin strainer, then pass the juice through a jelly bag.

Make the jelly

  1. Once the juice is clear, weigh it and boil for 10 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in an equal weight of fine powdered sugar until dissolved.

  3. Boil the jelly again.

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 natural pectin that helps the juice set.
Fine powdered sugar
Sweetens the jelly and helps it set firm and hold its shape.

The step that matters

Boil the jelly again. Sugar must dissolve fully before the final boil, and the jelly needs to reach a full rolling boil to set properly. Undissolved sugar or too little boiling can leave it runny or grainy.

“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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