Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Bake or boil the damsons in a stone jar in a saucepan of water or on a hot hearth.
Pour off some of the juice.
Weigh 1/2 pound of sugar for every 2 pounds of fruit.
Cook the jam
Set the fruit over a fire in the pan and let it boil quickly until it begins to look dry.
Remove the stones from the fruit and stir in the sugar.
Simmer slowly for 2 hours, then boil quickly for 30 minutes until the sides of the pan candy.
Pot the jam
Pour the jam into potting pans or dishes.
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, pectin and tartness that give the jam its body and flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the jam and, as it cooks down, helps it thicken and set.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly for 2 hours, then boil quickly for 30 minutes until the sides of the pan candy.. Sugar must dissolve fully before the hard boil, or it can crystallise. The jam sets as water evaporates and sugar concentrates, so stopping too early leaves it runny and overcooking can make it stiff and sticky.
“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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