Skip to main content
Dessert

Barberry Jam

A sweet preserve made from ripe barberries, sugar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
Jump to recipe ↓

Barberry Jam

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the barberries

  1. Strip the barberries from the stalks, discarding any that are spotted.

Make the jam

  1. In a pot, combine the sugar and water, and boil until it becomes white and falls in thick masses from the spoon.

  2. Add the barberries to the pot and stir over a brisk fire for 6 minutes.

  3. Remove any scum that forms and pour the jam into jars or glasses.

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 flavour and the fruit that forms the jam's body.
Sugar
Sweetens the jam and helps it set into a thick, spreadable texture.

The step that matters

Boiling the sugar and water to the right stage. Sugar syrup must be boiled until it turns white and falls in thick masses from the spoon. This concentrates the sugar so the jam thickens and sets properly when cooled, rather than staying runny.

“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.

You might also like