To Make Conserve Of Strawberries

This recipe hails from mid-17th century England, a period when sugar was precious and the art of fruit preserving was a mark of both thrift and culinary skill. The recipe is attributed to Nicholas Webster, around 1650, a time when recipes were often passed hand-to-hand in manuscript form rather than printed cookbooks. Conserve, in this context, is a sweet preserved fruit mixture intended to be stored for months, offering a taste of summer throughout the year. Sugar’s increasing availability by mid-century meant preserves like these began to grace more households beyond the elite. The conserve would commonly be enjoyed as a luxurious accompaniment to bread or cakes, or perhaps even as an ingredient in medicinal preparations, as strawberries were thought to aid digestion and general health.

Making this conserve in the 17th century required a large brass or copper preserving pan, prized for even heat and resistance to acid. An open hearth fire served as the heat source, with cooks managing the 'shy fyer'—a gentle or moderate flame. Wooden spoons were used for stirring, and the hot preserve would be decanted into glazed earthenware pots or stoneware jars, sealed with parchment or waxed paper and tied with string to protect from spoilage.