Damson Jam
"The damson trees near me have had a fabulous crop this year. Far more than I could deal with, although I did make two batches of Damson jam. This allowed me to experiment a bit and the ingredient quantities that gave me the best version are shown below. Damsons don't like to be parted from their stones and most recipes will have you fishing the stones out when the jam is cooked. I tried it once, which was enough! I now find the best method is to cut the stones off the fruit with a very sharp knife; a bit tedious, but not too bad if you can sit outside and chat with good company at the same time! Stoning time is NOT included in the cooking time.
Damsons are mainly grown in Britain and so some readers may not be familiar with damsons. Common theory is that the Crusaders brought Damson trees to England from Damascus. Damsons are a member of the plum family so if you can't find damsons, you can substitute plums; in that case the resulting jam will be a bit sweeter.
NOTE: Damsons have a LOT of pectin in them so don't over cook (my first attempt a few years ago was fondly known as 'slicing jam'. It still tasted good though, and didn't put me off jam making)! My top tips for testing for a set are:
a) place a couple of saucers in the freezer in readiness for the test, and
b) when you've put a spoonful of hot jam on a saucer, go off and make and drink a cup of tea (or have a beer) before doing the wrinkle test :-)"
- Ready In:
- 1hr 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 4
- Yields:
-
10 lbs
ingredients
directions
- Place the damsons and water in a preserving pan; bring to the boil then simmer gently for at least 30 minutes until the fruit is really soft and the contents of the pan are well reduced (the exact time will depend on how gently you simmer the fruit - I like to do this step very slowly).
- Remove the pan from the heat, add the sugar, stirring until dissolved, then add the knob of butter; bring to the boil then boil rapidly for 6 minutes.
- Test for a set by placing a teaspoon of jam onto a very cold saucer, leaving to cool then pushing the jam with your finger to see if it wrinkles up: even if the wrinkle is only on the surface and faint, the jam really should be done (and don't forget it will set more in the jar); if the setting point hasn't been reached boil for one more minute (only) then test again using another saucer.
- While the jam is still warm, pot it into sterilised jars.
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Reviews
-
You must be a "Down Homer" because westerners haven't heard of damson plums so I planted my own tree & it was covered with fruit so I tried your recipe & it was most excellent just like my Nan's and easy cause Hubby pitted the plums. Thanks for sharing. Katie G.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Mrs B
Worcester Park, Surrey
I live with my husband and 2 cats in Worcester Park; a quiet typical 1930s suburb (which no one has ever heard of!) about 12 miles South West of London.
I'm a fair weather gardener and as my husband is a vegetarian I grow a few easy vegetables, such as tomatoes and peppers, mainly in containers. My husband loves growing flowers, the brighter the better, and we have a pretty garden as a result. Our cats, Araminta and Purrl, like it too!
I do a lot of cooking and try to keep our diet as healthy and varied as possible. Although I work full time, I use very little in the way of pre-prepared foods. This is partly because of the limited choice of vegetarian meals, which I think are overpriced anyway; but mainly because I like to know what goes in my food!
I love using the Internet for all the great ideas it gives me. Last year I participated in the Zaar World Tour (under my previous public name Caroline Blakey), which was great. Mr B and I tried lots of new foods and discovered new favourite meals. Researching recipes for the Tour was really interesting, however as I didn't have time to try them all, some were posted untested. I'm still working my way very slowly through them. To make matters worse I keep seeing other recipes I want to save and have also participated in Zaar world Tour II. So many recipes, so little time to make them!
<img src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/kzbhansen/Banners/Animation3.gif">
My 'rules' for posting recipes are a) if I wouldn't make a particular recipe, I won't post it and b) if my husband wouldn't eat it, I won't post it. This means that all my recipes are vegetarian friendly.
As you will see from the number of recipes saved in my cookbooks, I particularly enjoy making jams and chutneys; I'd say it was one of my favourite hobbies. We always have a good supply of home preserves; my friends and work colleagues are well supplied too.
If we won the lottery (say £5m, as a good number) we'd like to give up work, move to the country and buy a place with a bit of land. In my dreams this would be a manor house or old vicarage, with a walled garden, an orchard where I could keep hens, a vegetable garden, etc, etc, etc! In my more realistic moments (the £1m win perhaps) I would like to run a B&B, perhaps offering Vegetarian taster weekends. Luckily it costs nothing to dream.......I’d also love more time to read, do embroidery, learn a language, see more of the countryside; and of course play on Zaar.
