A Year in Preserving - Damson Jam

At this time of year there is always a bit of a sense of "Here we go!" in the preserving world. There is a profusion of fruit and vegetables ripe for being preserved and hidden away for times of less bounty. There is also a sense of fear that I won't get it all done and this is not helped by the fact that, largely, I am not in control of the supply of ingredients for preserving. In some years, all the berries and fruits line up in neat chronological order and it a very simple task to organise and take on one recipe every weekend. Then there are the years like this one, where everything seems to come at once! In the past ten days I have gathered or been given enough fruit for 4 different preserves. This puts a degree of pressure on the kitchen, especially when one is trying to make the most of the last few days of the warm sunshine.
I propose to write 4 separate blog ;posts covering these preserves so they may be a little out of time. I shall start with Damson Jam.

The start of something lovely.

There are two problems with Damsons: Firstly, they are different, depending on where you are in the country. Damsons, plums, bullaces and gauges tend to change their name geographically. They are all related, merely having different sizes, colours and sweetness levels. The Damsons I used looked like small (bit not tiny) blue/purple plums.

Fruit in the preserving pan

The second problem with Damsons is the fact that their stones are extremely difficult to remove. I did this by making my initial boil with the fruit whole and sieving and picking out the stones when they had split from the flesh with the heat.
My late father loved Damson Jam for the slightly strange reason that the skins of the fruit tend to form into tiny, chewy lumps rather like penny sweets.
I do not own a damson tree but, for the last few years a huge bag has been supplied by a very dear friend which contains enough for a batch of Jam and 2 or 3 ltr of Damson Gin (Post to come soon). The sharing of the plenty at this time of year is a very basic and lovely human instinct. Communities are always stronger if they share and look after each other. I will, of course make sure that the donor has a pot of Jam or two soon.

The pulp with stones removed

(As I am typing this I am looking at the bag of Bramley apples dropped off by another friend, earlier this week). The recipe below is quite simple (putting aside the stone removal) and it is the formula I use when starting to develop a recipe. In essence, if the fruit is quite tart, equal amounts of sugar and fruit are used.



Damson Jam
2 kg Damsons
2 kg Sugar
250 ml water

Wash the fruit and pop, whole, into a preserving pan (or a large saucepan) with the water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the fruit has all broken down. Judicious use of a potato masher or ladle can help with this. When all is pulpy and soft, force it all through a sieve.

Pick out the stones from the remnants in the sieve and put the remaining, stoneless pulp back into the mix.

Adding the sugar

Add the sugar bring to the boil. Boil the mix until the setting point is achieved (There are loads of ways of doing this, but after a few jams, you start to gain a feel for it).
Allow the Jam to cool a little and then pot in sterilised jars. Pop the lids on, allow to cool and then store. Make sure you give plenty away to keep the virtuous circle moving.

Note. I do not put any of my jams into competitions, so I am not too worries by a few bubbles of scum at the top of some of my jams. In fact the last half jar or so, which is nearly all bubbles gets popped in a jar too. I use this jar first on toast or in a Victoria sponge. To date I have had no complaints.

The finished article. With credit given to the fruit donor!

  

More preservation

On the same day as I was collecting apples (see previous post), the beautiful wife was being visited by a friend who also happens to be a very talented artist (we have two of he paintings). The Artist has a damson tree in her garden so she arrived with two and a half kilos of damsons. I am a huge fan of this humble type of plum. They are not really edible straight from the tree but they have such depth of flavour once they meet heat, alcohol or sugar (or, indeed any combination of the three).
This is where free food is at its best. It is not necessary to have friends with lucky gardens. Damsons grown in our hedgerows they are often planted as part of a hedge for their ability to provide very good shelter from wind. They can be harvested, along with their friends the bullaces for a small investment of time. Also, in a good year, almost everyone who has a damson tree will be only to glad to give them away as they can be fantastically prolific.

Damson Gin in its early stages.

When I had begun to deal with the apples and was starting to diminish the bags I had been given I moved on the damsons.
A cheap bottle of gin was purchased and as many damsons as could fit were squeezed into my largest lever top jar. A healthy 100gms or more of sugar was added and then the whole lot topped up with the "Mother's Ruin". A few shakes over the following days made sure the sugar dissolved and I now have a jar of deep maroon liquid with fruit suspended in it sitting on my work table. It get a turn or two every evening and by the end of November, will be ready to strain off and pop back into its bottle. I plan to use the residue fruit in a late Christmas cake, or maybe I shall just eat them with ice cream.

Finished Damson Jam

This left me with quite a lot of damsons, as of yet unused. Not being one for waste, I got the sugar into action. My damson jam recipe is one of those that is mathematically very easy to work.

Damson Jam
A quantity of damsons
The same quantity of granulated sugar
85ml of water per kilo of fruit.

Put all the fruit, whole into a preserving pan and add the water. Bring to the boil and break up the fruit on the side of the pan. This should release the stones and they should rise to the surface. In truth this is a bit more of a faff than the cookbooks tell you but it can be done reasonably swiftly. i popped the stones in a sieve and forced the last bits of flesh off them with the back of a spoon. when all the stones are out add the sugar and stir in to dissolve. Boil the jam up to setting point and pot.