I made the Cordon Rose Strawberry Conserve for the first time yesterday - with the added sugar to get spreading consistency.  My question is how to guage the reduction of the syrup between the fruit additions.  Rose says to reduce to 1.75 cups.  How can one tell?  I did get the final temperature up to 208F but got 6 x 280g jars out of the recipe which I think is too much.  Also, it has not set sufficiently for spreading - great flavour though and fabulous over ice cream!  I’ve ordered loads of strawberries, raspberries and tayberries for Thursday so any help would be appreciated.

Annie

Sorry I haven’t made the conserve, so I can’t offer any advice.  Just wanted to ask what Tayberries were.

Patricia, tayberries are a cross between raspberries and blackberries - yum,yum!

Annie

If you just need to find the volume, you could fill your cooking pan with 1.75 cups of water, mark that height on a wooden skewer, and then use the skewer to gauge while cooking.

AnnieMacD - 27 July 2009 09:35 AM

Patricia, tayberries are a cross between raspberries and blackberries - yum,yum!

Annie

Yum, yum alright… they sound wonderful!

Matthew, thank you!  I never thought of that ... and it’s easy.  I was getting bogged down in weight of sugar + water and viscosity changing as water evaporated, etc, etc and got my head in a total fuzz!  I’ll use what I have for flavouring mousseline and toppings.

Annie

Matthew, great idea!  Sounds like your quantities may be too large for this, but I also use a large pyrex liquid measuring cup in the microwave for reducing liquids- easy to gauge the volume as it reduces.

Yes, Julie, I’m making quite big quantities.  Also, the fruit gives off liquid between each reduction so Matthew’s solution is clear, easy and will always work.  I usually just go by weight this doesn’t work in this case.

Annie

Matthew that is an excellent idea!

shimi - 27 July 2009 10:47 AM

Matthew that is an excellent idea!

Matthew always has good ideas!!

Thank you Matthew and thank you Annie for asking the question. I always wondered about this too.

Or you could have a pyrex liquid measure on hand and empty the juice from the pan to measure, then put it back and keep this level as a guide.  The final reduction can be done on the same pyrex in the microwave -). Be sure to try american spoon foods.

Matthew, your suggestion works a charm!  I made the Strawberry Conserve and reduced the liquid correctly to get a very intense strawberry experience - colour and flavour.  It’s just calling for some of the Vanilla Ice Cream (Cake Bible pp285) but actually can be consumed by the spoonful straight from the jar.  Think strawberry ripple might be on the cards….

Annie

Glad to hear that it worked well for you Annie!

I’ve just made 1.6 times the Raspberry Conserve from the Cake Bible and it is even more concentrated than the strawberry. Wow, an explosion on the tongue!  It will be perfect for mousseline.  Has anyone used the strawberry conserve to flavour mousseline?  If so, does one mash up the strawberries or only use the syrup?

Annie

Just received a load of soft fruit.  I think I’ll try Rose’s raspberry conserve recipe but substituting tayberries and blackberries.  A pie or tart also looms on the horizon ....

BTW Rose mentions Loganberries as a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry so I looked them up in the dictionary.

Loganberry - hybrid between a raspberry and a Pacific coast blackberry obtained by Judge JH Logan (died 1928)
Tayberry - a hybrid plant, a blackberry crossed with a raspberry; the fruit of this plant [Tayside in Scotland, where it was first produced]

Picture shows, from front; blackberries, tayberries, strawberries, with a punnet of raspberries on top left.

Annie