Cape gooseberry jam serves about 4 jars, takes 50 minutes, is cooked in a M’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass Handles.
The baker’s bench
A wide unlined copper pan, high heat, and a set you can see coming. No pectin, no thermometer.
Why this pan
A jam pan is wide and shallow so water leaves quickly, and unlined so nothing sits between the flame and the sugar. Fruit acid on bare copper is the traditional method, and the pan is used for nothing else.
The set arrives in a minute or two. In a tall stockpot you overshoot it while waiting for the middle to catch up, and the jam goes stiff and dull.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Cape gooseberries (physalis), husked and rinsed
- 800 g white sugar
- Juice of 2 lemons
- A split vanilla pod, optional
Method
- Put a saucer in the freezer. That is the set test and you will want it soon.
- Halve the larger berries. Combine fruit, sugar and lemon juice in the pan and leave for an hour until syrupy.
- Set over a medium flame and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely. Do not let it boil before that.
- Raise to a hard rolling boil. Skim the foam once, early.
- After about 15 minutes, start testing: a teaspoon on the cold saucer, back in the freezer for a minute, then push it with a finger. When it wrinkles, it is done.
- Rest 10 minutes off the heat so the fruit suspends, then jar into hot sterilised jars and seal.
The step most people rush
Dissolving the sugar before it boils. Any crystals still on the bottom when it reaches a boil will seed the whole batch and give you a grainy jam. It takes an extra three minutes and it is the difference.
Cooked in M’Passion Copper Jam Pan, Brass Handles. Made by Mauviel1830 in Normandy.