Greengage Jam
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Remove the stalks and stones from the greengages, and crack a few stones to set the kernels aside.
Cover the bottom of a preserving pan with ½ inch of cold water, add the fruit and kernels, and bring to a boil slowly.
Boil gently for about 15 minutes.
Make the jam
Meanwhile, heat the sugar in the oven until thoroughly hot.
Gradually add the hot sugar to the fruit, and continue boiling until the jam sets quickly when tested on a cold plate.
Pot and store
Pour into pots, cover with paper brushed with egg white, and store.
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
- Provide the fruit, acidity and pectin that give the jam its body and tang.
- Preserving sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, at high concentration, helps it thicken and set while preserving it.
The step that matters
Adding the hot sugar and boiling until set. Sugar added to cold fruit can stall the boil and cool the pan, so the jam must be kept at a rolling boil after the sugar goes in. Sugar concentration and pectin from the sour fruit together form the gel, so the cold-plate test is needed to confirm setting before potting.
“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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