To Preserve Barberries in Bunches
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Tie the barberries in bunches of four or five sprigs.
Make the syrup
In a pot, boil 3 pounds of sugar in 2 cups of water for 20 minutes, skimming off any scum.
Cook and jar
Add the barberries and heat gently, then boil for 5 to 7 minutes until the fruit is transparent.
Press the berries down into the syrup until they burst and no snapping noise is heard.
Pour the mixture into jars and cover with skin or thick paper once cooled.
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
- The fruit supplies the tart flavour and the body of the preserve.
- Sugar
- Sugar sweetens the fruit and, in a thick syrup, helps preserve it.
The step that matters
Pressing the berries until they burst. Bursting the berries lets their juice mix into the syrup so the fruit takes up the sugar. Stop when the snapping sound ends, since the fruit should be fully softened and transparent before jarring.
“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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