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Walnut Jam
Take fifty walnuts in which the shell has not begun to form, prick them all over, and boil in water till they are quite soft. Strain the water off, put a clove in each, and strew over them two ounces of bruised ginger. Make a syrup of half a pint of water to two and a half pounds of coarse brown sugar, stirring on the fire till all is melted; then put in the walnuts, and boil for twenty minutes, stirring to prevent them burning. This jam forms an excellent laxative, and may be elevated to the position of a pleasant domestic medicine.
A green-walnut preserve rather than a jam in the modern sense — the fruit stays whole in a heavy spiced syrup, and nothing in it will ever set. Everything depends on catching the walnuts at the right moment.
- The hinge: pick before the shell formsGreen walnuts are usable only for a few weeks, roughly midsummer in most temperate regions. Push a skewer or knitting needle straight through the middle; if it meets any grit or resistance, the shell has begun to lignify and the fruit will never soften, however long you boil it.
- StainingThe juice contains juglone and tannins that turn hands, wooden spoons and cloth a deep brown that does not wash out. Wear nitrile gloves throughout the pricking and use stainless steel, not aluminium or cast iron, which react with the tannin and blacken the syrup.
- "Boil till quite soft"Expect a long simmer rather than a few minutes; the time varies with the size and ripeness of the nuts. Some recipes change the water during this stage to draw off bitterness; the original assumes you will judge by the skewer going through easily.
- UnitsHalf a pint of water is 10 fl oz in imperial measure, about 1¼ US cups. "Bruised ginger" may mean fresh root or dried whole ginger, both of which were used in period preserving; either way it is smashed so it perfumes the syrup and can be fished out. 2½ lb of sugar is roughly 5½ cups.
- Coarse brown sugarThe period ingredient was an unrefined, molasses-heavy sugar. Dark muscovado or demerara gives the right colour and depth; modern light brown sugar is refined white sugar with a little molasses added back and will taste thinner.
- Twenty minutes is enoughThis is a syrup-and-fruit preserve, not a pectin set. Twenty minutes at a steady boil concentrates the syrup; longer and the sugar begins to caramelise and catch, which is why the recipe insists on stirring. The syrup thickens noticeably on cooling.
- Yield and keepingThe yield depends on the size of the walnuts, but fifty of them in this much syrup will fill several 1 lb jars. Pack hot into sterilised jars and seal at once; the sugar concentration keeps it well in a cool dark cupboard, and it should go in the refrigerator once opened.
- The medicinal claimIgnore the closing sentence. Treat this as a spiced condiment for cold ham, game, hard cheese or a spoonful with rice pudding, in ordinary spoonfuls.
Preserved green walnuts are a long-standing English still-room tradition, and household books from the seventeenth century onward give versions pickled in vinegar, candied whole, or boiled in syrup as here. Picking is traditionally tied to midsummer — St John's Day, 24 June, is the date usually quoted, though the real deadline is set by the weather and the tree. The same window produced walnut ketchup and, in Italy, the liqueur nocino. Victorian cookery writers moved freely between the kitchen and the medicine cupboard, recommending a preserve for its supposed effect on the bowels as readily as for its flavour.