Barberry Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup
Strip the barberries from the stalks and discard any that are spotted.
In a pot, combine the sugar and water, and boil until it becomes white and falls in thick masses from the spoon.
Cook the jam
Add the barberries to the pot and stir over a brisk fire for 6 minutes.
Skim off any scum that forms, then pour the jam into jars or glasses.
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 fruit flavour, tartness and bulk that form the body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, when boiled, thickens the syrup that sets the jam.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup before the fruit is added.
The step that matters
Boiling the sugar syrup to the right stage. The syrup must reach a thick, heavy consistency before the fruit goes in. Sugar concentration drives gelling and setting, so an underboiled syrup can leave the jam runny.
“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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