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Dessert

Damson Cheese

A sweet preserve made from damsons and sugar, simmered until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Damson Cheese

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Remove the stalks from the damsons and place them in a preserving pan.

  2. Simmer the damsons over low heat until soft, stirring occasionally.

  3. Pass the mixture through a coarse sieve to extract the pulp and juice.

Make the preserve

  1. Return the pulp and juice to the preserving pan, adding the sugar.

  2. Stir well and simmer slowly for 2 hours.

  3. Skim off any foam, then boil the preserve quickly for 1 hour or until thick.

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 pulp and natural acid that form the body and tang of the preserve.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the preserve and, at this concentration, helps it thicken and keep its set.

The step that matters

Boiling the preserve to a thick set. Sugar and fruit pectin set only at high concentration. Simmering too gently or stopping too early leaves a runny preserve, while overcooking can make it stiff or caramelised.

“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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