Excellent Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the damsons
Bake or stew the damsons until tender, then drain off the juice.
Skin and stone the damsons, and pour back ⅓ to ½ of their juice.
Weigh the damsons and boil them over a brisk fire until they form a dry paste.
Make the cheese
Add 12 ounces of pounded sugar for each 2 pounds of damsons and stir off the fire until dissolved.
Boil the mixture again, stirring continuously, until it leaves the pan dry and adheres to the spoon.
To test, it should not stick to your fingers when lightly touched.
Quickly press the mixture into pans or molds.
Store
Once cold, cover with a paper dipped in spirit and tie another layer over it.
Store in a dry place.
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 form the thick, sliceable paste.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, when boiled down, helps it set firm and keep well.
The step that matters
Boiling until the mixture leaves the pan dry. Fruit pulp must be cooked down until most water has evaporated; if left too wet, the paste will not set firmly and may spoil in storage.
“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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