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Dessert

Damson Preserves

A preserve made by cutting damsons, sun‑drying, and boiling them in a sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Damson Preserves

Ingredients

Directions

  1. With a sharp knife, cut a long slit lengthwise in each damson.

  2. Spread the damsons in dishes and set them in the sun until the seeds come out easily.

  3. Boil the damsons in a thick syrup made with an equal weight of sugar and damsons until thoroughly done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Damsons
Provide the main fruit flavor and natural pectin that helps the preserve set.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, at high concentration, thickens the syrup and helps preserve it.

The step that matters

Boil until thoroughly done. Sugar and heat must concentrate the syrup and let the fruit's pectin gel. Stopping early leaves a runny preserve that sets poorly and spoils sooner.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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