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Dessert

Damson -cheese

A preserved cheese made from damsons, sugar, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Damson -cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the damsons

  1. Remove the damsons from their stalks and leaves.

  2. Place the damsons in a jar.

  3. Cover the jar with white paper.

  4. Bake in a slow oven until soft.

  5. Rub the damsons through a colander to extract the pulp and juice.

Make the cheese

  1. Combine the pulp and juice with fine powdered sugar to taste.

  2. Boil over moderate heat, stirring constantly for about three hours until thick.

  3. Add the damson kernels a few minutes before removing from heat.

  4. Pour the mixture into cups or molds.

  5. Let the mixture sit for a day.

Seal and store

  1. Cut pieces of writing paper to fit the tops of the cups.

  2. Dip the paper in brandy.

  3. Place the paper on top of the cups.

  4. Store in a dry place; it will keep for several years.

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Damsons
Provide the fruit pulp and juice that set into the thick, sweet cheese.
Fine powdered sugar
Sweetens the fruit and helps the mixture thicken into a firm, sliceable cheese.
Brandy
Dipped paper is placed on top of the cups, adding aroma to the seal.

The step that matters

Boil while stirring constantly. Fruit pulp with sugar can scorch on the bottom of the pan during a long boil. Constant stirring spreads the heat and keeps the mixture from sticking, while the sugar and water evaporate until the mixture thickens.

“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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