Gooseberry Jam
Ingredients
2 l
- Gooseberries 1 kg
- Sugar 1 kg
- Lemon (or lime) juice 3–4 tbsp
- Cognac or brandy 2–3 tbsp
Step-by-step recipe
Preparing the berries
Gooseberry jam is best made from berries that are still, as they say, a little “green” – just slightly. They are firm and light green with prominent veins. Sometimes they even look translucent. You can use darker berries too, but then the jam won’t be olive green. By the way, if you pick gooseberries in your own garden, be careful – the thorns on the branches are very sharp.
Sort through the gooseberries, removing any that are completely green, rotten or overripe. You’ll often find leaves and even the odd living creature.
Put the gooseberries in a bowl and wash them thoroughly. Tip them into a colander to drain. Dry the berries by spreading them out on a cloth or a large towel. The fewer drops of water left, the better.
Trim off the dried flower remnant on one end of each berry and the stem on the other. It’s a bit slow and tedious, but the jam is made from pureed fruit, and in the finished jam these bits would be noticeable and completely out of place.
Pureeing
Get a large pot or a heavy cauldron for cooking preserves, jam or fruit butter. A big wooden spoon is handy for stirring fruit and berries.
Blitz all the gooseberries with a blender into a coarse puree. It’s better not to use a meat grinder – contact between the metal and the berries can make them darken and change color noticeably.
Cooking
Pour the pureed gooseberries into the cauldron and add 3–4 tbsp of lemon juice. This will keep the berries from darkening. Stir the puree and put it on the heat. I recommend adding 2–3 tbsp of brandy or cognac to the jam – it makes the taste much better.
Start heating the berry mixture, stirring. Then add the sugar – in a one-to-one ratio by weight.
Bring the gooseberry jam to a boil and simmer for 2–3 minutes. A berry mixture with a lot of sugar burns very easily and sticks to the bottom of the cauldron, so keep stirring it with a wooden spoon.
Filling the jars
While the jam is cooking, get the jars and lids ready – wash them and sterilize them with boiling water.
While the jam is still boiling, ladle it into the jars with a cup and seal them right away.
After screwing on the lids, turn the jars upside down for a few minutes to make sure they are airtight.
At first the jam seems runny. After a few days of storage it thickens, and its consistency resembles good-quality honey. The color turns a light olive green. The seeds that every gooseberry has stay whole when blended and are clearly visible.
Gooseberry jam keeps in the pantry or on a shelf. The high sugar content prevents fermentation and spoilage. Once opened, though, it’s best to keep the jar in the fridge. We usually serve the jam with tea and with thin crepes. By the way, it’s a great addition to other desserts too, especially homemade ice cream.
Calories and macros
211 kcal
100 g
- Protein0.4 g1% of kcal
- Fat0.3 g1% of kcal
- Carbs50.8 g98% of kcal
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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To Get It Right
To keep the jam from darkening
- puree the berries with a blender, not a meat grinder: contact with metal darkens them;
- add the lemon or lime juice to the puree right away, before heating;
- light, slightly underripe berries give an olive green jam, darker ones a darker jam.
To keep it from burning
There’s as much sugar as berries, so the mixture sticks to the bottom easily. Cook it in a large pot or cauldron and stir constantly with a wooden spoon.
Brandy
2–3 tbsp of brandy or cognac noticeably improve the flavor. The jam works without alcohol too, the aroma is just simpler.
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Questions and answers
How much sugar per 1 kg of gooseberries?
1 kg – one to one by weight. That much sugar is what keeps the jam well.
How long to cook gooseberry jam?
Just 2–3 minutes after it comes to a boil, stirring constantly. The jam is cooked in one go and ladled into jars while still boiling.
Why is my gooseberry jam runny?
It’s supposed to be runny right after cooking: after a few days of storage it thickens to the consistency of good honey. If you want a thick jam straight away, cook it longer – 10–15 minutes, stirring.
How to make seedless gooseberry jam?
When blended, the seeds stay whole and are clearly visible in the jam. If you don’t want them, press the puree through a sieve before adding the sugar.
What is the difference between jam, preserves and confiture?
All of them are fruit or berries cooked down with sugar until thick. Jam is usually made from pureed fruit in one go, confiture may contain pectin or gelling agents, and for preserves with whole berries, overripe berries work better.