Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Bake or boil the damsons in a stone jar in a saucepan of water or on a hot hearth.
Pour off some of the juice, then weigh out ½ pound of sugar for every 2 pounds of fruit.
Set the fruit over heat in a pan and let it boil quickly until it looks dry.
Make the jam
Remove the stones and stir in the sugar, then simmer slowly for 2 hours.
Boil quickly for another 30 minutes until the sides of the pan are clean.
Pot and cool
Pour the jam into potting pans or dishes about 1 inch thick to cool.
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 fruit, pectin and tart flavour that form the body of the jam.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and helps it thicken and keep as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Simmering after adding the sugar. Sugar added to fruit that is still watery can scorch on the bottom of the pan if heat is too high. Slow simmering over a long time evaporates water gradually, concentrating the fruit and sugar and helping the jam set without burning.
“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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