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Dessert

Preserved Damsons

Preserved damsons are fruit preserved in sugar, boiled, and sealed in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Preserved Damsons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Stem the damsons.

  2. Place the stemmed damsons in stone jars in alternate layers with an equal weight of sugar.

  3. Cover the jars.

Cook

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

  2. Bring the water to a boil.

  3. Let the water simmer until the damsons are tender.

  4. Carefully transfer the damsons into tumblers or jars.

  5. Pour the juice into a preserving kettle.

  6. Boil the juice briskly for 10 minutes.

  7. Strain the juice through a jelly bag.

  8. Pour the strained juice over the fruit.

  9. Seal the jars.

  10. Cover the glasses when cold.

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 fruit, flavour and juice that the preserve is made from.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it by drawing out moisture and inhibiting spoilage.

The step that matters

Boil the juice briskly for 10 minutes. Brisk boiling concentrates the juice and lets it reach the sugar concentration needed to set and keep well. Boiling too gently can leave the preserve thin and more prone to spoiling.

“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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