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Greengages, to Brandy
Choose perfectly sound greengages, not too ripe; weigh them, and allow half a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit. Put the sugar into a preserving-pan, with three table-spoonfuls of water to every pound, and when it is dissolved, pour it, boiling, over the fruit. Let the greengages remain for forty-eight hours, then boil them very softly till they are clear, but unbroken. Lift them out, singly, with a spoon, and three-parts fill wide-mouthed bottles with them. Boil the syrup then for five minutes; mix with it the equal measure in good French brandy, and, when cool, fill the bottles. Cover them securely, and keep in a cool dry place. Time, about twenty minutes to boil the plums. Probable cost of greengages, when plentiful, 6d. per quart.
A straightforward brandied fruit: sugar syrup, a two-day steep, the gentlest possible poach, then a fortified syrup poured over. The whole result depends on the fruit staying whole.
- The hinge: "boil them very softly"A bare tremble, with the surface barely moving. Anything approaching a true boil will split the skins and the greengages will collapse into jam. The recipe's insistence on fruit that is "perfectly sound, not too ripe" — firm rather than green — is for the same reason.
- GreengagesThe green-gold Reine Claude plum, sold in late summer and often at farmers' markets rather than supermarkets. Any small firm dessert plum works, though the flavour is less honeyed. Leave them whole and unpeeled; pricking each one two or three times with a needle helps them absorb syrup without bursting.
- ProportionsHalf a pound of sugar and three tablespoons of water per pound of fruit: little sugar relative to the fruit, but very little water with it, so the syrup goes on thick and is thinned afterwards by the juice the 48-hour rest draws out of the plums. Do not add extra water.
- Preserving-panA wide, heavy pan with a large surface area. Use stainless steel or enamelled cast iron; untinned copper and bare aluminium react with acidic fruit.
- The 48 hoursNot idleness. The hot syrup poured over raw fruit begins osmotic exchange, so the plums firm up and take sugar gradually instead of shrivelling in the pan. Cover and leave at cool room temperature.
- BottlesWide-mouthed preserving jars with new lids, washed and oven-dried or run through a dishwasher cycle first. "Three-parts fill" leaves room for the syrup to cover the fruit completely — any plum standing above the liquid will darken and spoil.
- BrandyEqual measure of syrup to brandy gives a finished liquor of roughly 20 per cent alcohol, which is what preserves the jars. Do not reduce the brandy or top up with water. A plain VS cognac or armagnac is the intent; nothing needs to be expensive, but avoid sweetened brandy liqueurs.
- Keeping and yieldFill as many jars as the fruit and syrup make; three-parts fruit to syrup means rather more jar volume than the weight of fruit suggests. Store sealed and cool, and give them a few months before opening — the flavour is raw and spirity at first. Once opened, refrigerate. Discard any jar that fizzes, gushes or has gone cloudy.
The greengage is the English name for the French Reine-Claude plum, named for Claude of France, wife of François I; the English name is generally traced to the Gage family of Suffolk, who are said to have introduced the tree to England in the early eighteenth century, the story being that the variety label was lost in transit and the fruit took the family name instead. Brandying was one of the standard Victorian routes for a glut of stone fruit, sitting alongside jam, jelly, bottling and drying — Cassell's gives a price "when plentiful, 6d. per quart," which is the tell: this is a recipe for the fortnight when the tree is producing more than the household can eat. The high proportion of spirit did the preserving work.