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Dessert

Blackberry Sweetmeats

A preserved blackberry confection made by cooking blackberries with sugar into a syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Blackberry Sweetmeats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the blackberries

  1. Weigh the blackberries.

  2. Wash the blackberries.

  3. Cut the blackberries.

  4. Place the blackberries in a kettle.

  5. Let the blackberries sit until the juice begins to run.

Cook the fruit

  1. Add the sugar to the kettle.

  2. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Bring the kettle to a boil.

  4. Cook until the blackberries are tender but not falling apart.

  5. Remove the blackberries from the kettle.

  6. Drain the blackberries.

Pack and finish

  1. Fill the jars with the blackberries.

  2. Boil the syrup quickly for 20 minutes, ensuring it does not scorch.

  3. Remove the syrup from heat.

  4. Skim the syrup.

  5. Fill the jars with the syrup.

  6. Let the jars cool.

  7. Cover the jars.

  8. Wash the jars.

  9. Store the jars.

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

Granulated sugar
Sweetens the fruit and forms the syrup that fills the jars.
Blackberries
Supply the fruit, flavor and juice that becomes the syrup.

The step that matters

Boil the syrup quickly without scorching. Sugar syrup concentrates as it boils, and sugar that touches a hot pan bottom can scorch, turning bitter and dark. Keeping the boil quick and watched keeps the syrup clear and tasting of fruit.

“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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