To Keep Gooseberries
Ingredients
Directions
Blanch the gooseberries
Dissolve alum in a large pan of boiling water.
Pick the gooseberries and place a few in a hair sieve.
Hold the sieve in the boiling water until the gooseberries turn white.
Remove the sieve and spread the gooseberries between two clean cloths.
Repeat the process until all gooseberries are blanched.
Pack and store
Pour the water into a glazed pot and let it sit overnight.
Place the gooseberries in wide-mouthed bottles, discarding any cracked ones.
Pour the clear water from the pot into the bottles and cork them loosely.
Let the bottles stand for two weeks; if they rise to the corks, uncork for three to four days.
Cork them tightly and store in a cool, dry place.
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
- Alum
- Firms the fruit's texture so it holds its shape during preserving.
- Gooseberries
- The fruit being preserved; blanching whitens its skin before it is packed.
The step that matters
Hold the sieve in the boiling water until the gooseberries turn white.. Blanching only briefly, until the fruit whitens, firms the skin and helps it keep its shape; over-blanching softens the fruit and it can break apart in the bottles.
“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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