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Vegetables & Preserves

75 recipes in this category

Vegetable dishes, pickles, jams, and preserves — traditional ways to cook and preserve the harvest.

Sliced apricot fruit paste in deep amber color, dusted with sugar, arranged on parchment paper on a dark oak table.
vegetables preserves

Apricot Fruit Paste

Sieved ripe apricots cooked with equal weight sugar and lemon juice, poured into molds and air-dried — from early 20th century Central European kitchens.

Total time: 75 min
Servings: 10 slices (approx. 50g each)
Small golden-green candied gooseberries dusted in white powdered sugar, arranged on dark parchment paper, some with stalks still attached.
vegetables preserves

Candied Gooseberries

Gooseberries cooked twice in heavy sugar syrup, sun-dried, and rolled in powdered sugar — a patient old confectionery technique for winter storage.

Total time: 2940 min
Servings: 8 portions (approx. 125g each)
A large glass jar filled with dark ripe cherries in deep ruby syrup, lemon slices and cinnamon sticks visible, sitting on a rustic dark oak table.
vegetables preserves

Cherries in Sugar for Winter

Ripe cherries preserved in sugar and wine vinegar with cloves, cinnamon, and lemon — sun-fermented for 3–4 days, then stored through winter.

Total time: 20 min
Servings: 1 jar (3 liters)
Glass jar of pale translucent melon slices in golden vanilla syrup on a dark oak table, vanilla pod alongside, natural window light from left.
vegetables preserves

Cooked Melon Kept for Winter

Firm melon slices packed in vanilla syrup and steam-processed for 10 hours, then rested four days before a final boil.

Total time: 7830 min
Servings: 8 portions (approx. 100g each)
Sliced dark brown Dalmatian grape cheese on a rustic wooden board, visible pieces of walnut and fig in the cut surface, a small glass of amber wine alongside.
vegetables preserves

Dalmatian Grape Cheese (Mantala)

Sweet wine reduced and thickened with semolina, sugar, walnuts, figs, and raisins — the traditional Mantala of Dubrovnik.

Total time: 4350 min
Servings: 6–8 thin slices
White grape clusters layered with sugar and whole cloves in a large glass jar filled with golden brandy
vegetables preserves

Grapes in Brandy

Grape clusters layered with sugar, cloves, and vanilla, covered in bitter brandy and left 6 weeks — Central European winter preserve and homemade liqueur.

Total time: 30 min
Servings: 10 portions (approx. 100g grapes with brandy)
Glass jars filled with whole dark Muscat grapes in golden spiced syrup, cinnamon stick visible, on a dark oak table with natural window light.
vegetables preserves

Muscat Grapes in Spiced Sugar Syrup

Whole Muscat Hamburg grapes preserved in rich cinnamon and vanilla sugar syrup.

Total time: 60 min
Servings: 8 portions (approx. 150g each)
Whole pale peaches in clear amber rum syrup inside a glass jar, on a wooden cellar shelf
vegetables preserves

Peaches with Rum

Whole peaches treated to stay pale, packed in jars with a light rum and sugar syrup — a traditional Central European winter preserve.

Total time: 120 min
Servings: 6 peaches (approx. 1 per serving)
Whole golden pears in amber cognac syrup inside a glass jar, on a dark wooden table
vegetables preserves

Pears in Cognac and Rum

Whole pears blanched, steeped overnight in syrup, then preserved in a thickened cognac and rum syrup and pasteurized.

Total time: 75 min
Servings: 6 pears (approx. 1 per serving)