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Dessert

Barberry Preserves

Preserves made from barberries and sugar, cooked until soft and jarred.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Barberry Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick the barberries from the stalks.

  2. Weigh the barberries and use the same weight of loaf sugar.

Make the preserves

  1. Place the barberries and sugar in a jar and submerge it in a kettle of water until the sugar dissolves and the barberries are soft.

  2. The next day, transfer the mixture to a preserving pan and boil for 30 minutes.

  3. Pour the preserves into jars and store them in a dry place.

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 main fruit flavour and tartness, and their pectin helps the preserve set.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the fruit and draws out moisture, and helps preserve the finished jam.

The step that matters

Dissolving the sugar before boiling. If the sugar has not fully dissolved when the mixture is boiled, it can crystallise or scorch on the pan base. Gentle heat in the water bath lets the sugar dissolve evenly before the boil.

“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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