To Preserve Greengages Whole
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Place vine leaves at the bottom of a preserving pan.
Layer greengages and vine leaves until all fruit is used.
Add enough water to cover the greengages, top with vine leaves and a plate to keep in steam.
Place by the fire for 8 to 9 hours.
Carefully remove the greengages and drain on a hair sieve.
Make the syrup
Make a syrup by boiling 1 pound of sugar with ½ pint of water.
Add the greengages to the syrup and gently boil for 2 to 3 days.
Remove the fruit, add 1 pound more sugar to the syrup, boil for 20 minutes, and skim well.
Return the greengages to the syrup, boil once, let cool, and transfer to preserving pots.
Cover with brandy papers.
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
- Greengages
- The fruit that is preserved whole, keeping its shape and flesh through long, gentle cooking.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and, at high concentration in the syrup, helps preserve it.
- Vine leaves
- Lie under and over the fruit to protect it from scorching and direct contact with the pan.
The step that matters
Gentle boiling in the syrup. Boiling too hard or too long can break the greengages apart. A gentle simmer lets sugar slowly penetrate the fruit while it stays whole.
“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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.