Name: Red Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients: 6 pounds small red gooseberries; 2.5 pounds roughly powdered sugar (or 3 pounds fine Lisbon sugar for common preserve)

Red Gooseberry Jam

Ingredients

6 pounds small red gooseberries
2.5 pounds roughly powdered sugar (or 3 pounds fine Lisbon sugar for common preserve)

Directions

Remove the buds and stalks from the gooseberries.
Weigh the gooseberries and boil them quickly for 45 minutes, stirring well.
Add the sugar and boil briskly for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring from the bottom to prevent burning.

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

Gooseberries: Provide the fruit, pectin and acidity that give the jam its body and tang.
Sugar: Sweetens the jam and helps it set and keep by binding water and preserving the fruit.

The step that matters

Stirring from the bottom during the sugar boil. Sugar and fruit thicken as water evaporates, and the mixture sits close to the pan base where it can scorch. Stirring from the bottom keeps the jam moving and prevents burning, which would leave a bitter taste.

“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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Red Gooseberry Jam