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Dessert

Preserved Damsons

This recipe preserves damsons in sugar syrup, then jars them with the syrup for a sweet preserve.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Preserved Damsons

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fruit in jars

  1. Stem the fruit.

  2. Put the fruit in stone jars in alternate layers with an equal weight of sugar.

  3. Cover the jars.

  4. Place the jars in a large kettle of cold water.

  5. Bring to the boil and let simmer until tender.

  6. Put the damsons carefully into tumblers or jars.

  7. Pour the juice into a preserving kettle.

  8. Boil the juice briskly for 1 minute.

  9. Strain the juice through a jelly bag.

  10. Pour the strained juice over the fruit.

  11. Seal the jars.

  12. Cover the glasses when cold as for jelly.

Make the jelly

  1. Put 1 pound mulberries and 1 cup water in a preserving kettle.

  2. Simmer until soft.

  3. Strain and squeeze out all the juice.

  4. Put the juice back in the kettle.

  5. Add 4 pounds sugar.

  6. Boil and skim until clear.

  7. Add 4 pounds mulberries.

  8. Simmer for 15 minutes.

  9. Set aside overnight.

  10. If the juice is not jellied in the morning, simmer again for 15 minutes, breaking the berries as little as possible.

Jar and seal

  1. Put into jars or tumblers.

  2. Fasten up when cold.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Mulberries
Provide the fruit body, flavour and colour of the preserve.
Sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the fruit and, with the boiled juice, helps the mixture set and keep.

The step that matters

Boil and skim the juice until clear. Boiling the sugar and juice concentrates them so the preserve can set. Overboiling darkens the colour and can make it stiff, while skimming removes foam so the jelly looks clear.

“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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