Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Place freshly gathered damsons in an earthenware jar and cover it tightly.
Put the jar in a pan of cold water on the fire and let it boil.
Add more water as it evaporates until the fruit is tender.
While warm, remove the damsons, skin them, and stone them.
Press the damsons through a coarse sieve into the juice in the jar.
Make the paste
Add ½ pound of sugar for every pound of pulp.
Boil the mixture quickly to a stiff paste.
Optionally, add blanched kernels for flavor.
Boil until it sticks to the spoon and leaves the pan dry.
Set and store
Pour the paste into jars or shallow molds.
Cover the paste with brandied or oiled paper.
Seal the jars tightly.
Store in a dry place.
Cut into shapes before serving.
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 pulp that forms the body and flavor of the cheese.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the pulp and helps it thicken into a stiff, sliceable paste as it boils.
The step that matters
Boil until the paste sticks to the spoon and leaves the pan dry. Sugar and fruit pectin set as water evaporates. Stopping too early leaves a soft paste that will not hold its shape, while overcooking can scorch the sugar and make it tough.
“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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