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Nectarines, Preserved
Gather the nectarines when they are fully grown, but not over-ripe. Split them in halves, and remove the stones; put into a preserving-pan sugar equal to the weight of the fruit, with a quarter of a pint of water to every pound of sugar; boil it to a clear syrup, then put in the fruit, and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Pour the preserve carefully into a bowl, breaking it as little as possible, and let it remain until the next day, when it must be boiled again for ten minutes. Lift the fruit out carefully with a spoon, put it into jars, boil the syrup fast by itself for ten minutes, and pour it over the fruit; break the stones and blanch the kernels, put a portion in each jar, and tie down securely. Store in a cool dry place.
This is a two-day sugar preserve of the standard Victorian type, but two of its instructions put it outside what can be recommended now. The problems are the kernels and the sealing.
- The kernels are the reason to stopNectarine and peach stones enclose a kernel containing amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the kernel is crushed, chewed or steeped in a moist medium. Blanching does not remove it. The recipe gives no quantity at all beyond "a portion in each jar", and a portion left to infuse in syrup for months is an uncontrolled dose.
- Why the period cook did it anywayThe kernel was valued for its bitter-almond perfume, the same compound family that gives ratafia and noyau their flavour. Bitter almonds and stone-fruit kernels were often used for the same effect, and the toxicity of prussic acid was known in the period, but recipes of this kind seldom specified a quantity.
- The seal is not a seal"Tie down securely" most likely means a paper cover or a bladder tied over the jar mouth, as was usual at the time. Nothing here is heat-processed after filling and nothing is airtight, so the preserve relies wholly on sugar concentration and a cool larder to hold off mould and yeasts. The only endpoint given for the syrup is 'a clear syrup' and a time, so the finished concentration is unknown.
- Whole fruit, not jamThe method is deliberately gentle rather than efficient: halves are steeped, rested overnight, reboiled, then lifted out so the syrup alone can be reduced hard. The aim is intact glossy halves suspended in a heavy syrup, closer to a compote in bottles than to jam. Fruit boiled with the syrup to the end would collapse.
- A quarter of a pintAn imperial pint is 20 fl oz, so this is 5 fl oz, or a gill, of water per pound of sugar. Equal weights of sugar and fruit was the standard Victorian ratio for keeping quality.
- If you want preserved nectarinesUse a current tested recipe from a modern preserving authority, with a stated processing time and jar treatment, and leave the kernels out.
Cassell's belongs to the era of the walled kitchen garden, when nectarines and peaches were raised in Britain against south-facing brick or under glass and arrived in a short, heavy glut. Preserving whole halves in syrup, rather than boiling everything down to jam, kept the fruit presentable enough for a dessert course, where bottled nectarines could stand in for fresh ones in midwinter. The kernel finishing the jar is a survival of a much older European habit of flavouring stone-fruit preserves, custards and cordials with the almond note of the fruit's own pit, the same principle behind ratafia and noyau; it is generally traced back through the confectionery traditions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and it persisted in print long afterwards.