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Dessert

Damsons, Preserved

Damsons preserved by boiling with sugar and straining the juice.

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

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pick the damsons, ensuring they are free from bruises or blemishes.

  2. Place the damsons in large jars or bottles and sprinkle the sugar over them.

Cook the fruit

  1. Stand the jars in a boiler with water reaching up the sides.

  2. Gradually bring the water to a boil and simmer until the fruit is soft but not broken.

  3. Remove the jars and strain the juice away.

Reduce the juice

  1. Boil the juice in a pan for 15 minutes, then strain through flannel.

  2. Pour the strained juice over the fruit in the jars or small jars.

Seal

  1. When cold, cover the jars as you would for jam.

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 main fruit flavour and the body of the preserve.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the fruit and helps preserve it by drawing out water.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the fruit is soft but not broken. Heating the water gradually keeps the heat gentle, so the skins hold and the fruit softens without bursting. Bursting releases juice unevenly and leaves the fruit mushy, which spoils the appearance of the preserve.

“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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