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Dessert

To Preserve Damsons

A preserve made by cooking damsons with sugar.

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Pick off the stalks from the damsons and prick them with a pin.

  2. Place the damsons in a deep pot and add the sugar.

Cook and rest

  1. Set the pot in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the damsons are soft.

  2. Remove the pot and let it stand for two days before boiling the syrup.

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 that softens into the preserve and gives its tart flavor.
Sugar
Draws moisture out of the fruit and sweetens the preserve while helping it keep.

The step that matters

Letting the pot stand for two days before boiling the syrup. Sugar slowly draws juice out of the fruit, forming a syrup. Boiling too early can leave the fruit tough or the syrup thin, so the resting period lets the sugar fully dissolve and the flavors blend.

“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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