To Dry Ripe Gooseberries with Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the tops off the gooseberries, leaving the stalks intact.
Remove the seeds from the gooseberries as directed for unripe ones.
Make the syrup and steep
Boil the gooseberries in a syrup made with 1 lb of sugar and 1 pint of water until clear and tender, about 8 to 12 minutes.
Place the gooseberries in cold syrup that has been used for other fruits, then heat gradually.
Keep the mixture at a boil for a few minutes, then let it sit for a couple of days.
On the third day, drain the syrup, simmer and skim it, then pour it over the gooseberries immediately.
Dry
After 48 hours, drain the gooseberries and lay them out on plates or dishes.
Place the plates in a gentle oven to dry.
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
- Gooseberries
- Provide the fruit, which softens in syrup and dries into a chewy, tart piece.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and draws water out of the fruit, helping it keep as it dries.
The step that matters
Heat the fruit gradually in the cold syrup. Sudden heat can split the skins and break the fruit apart. Gradual heating lets sugar slowly penetrate, so the gooseberries stay whole and clear as they become tender.
“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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