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Damson Cheese
Put some sound, freshly-gathered damsons into an earthenware jar, cover it closely, and place it in a pan of cold water on the fire. Let it boil, and as the water wastes away keep adding more until the fruit is quite tender. Then, whilst they are still warm, remove the damsons, skin and stone them, and press them through a coarse sieve into the juice in the jar. Put half a pound of loaf sugar, broken into small pieces, to every pound of pulp, and boil all together quickly to a stiff paste. A few of the kernels may be blanched and left in, and these will much improve the flavour. The sugared fruit should be boiled until it sticks to the spoon in a mass, and leaves the pan quite dry; and if, when lightly touched, it leaves the fingers, you may know that it will keep well. Put it quickly into jars or shallow moulds; lay brandied or oiled papers over it, and cover the vessels closely. Keep in a dry place. Before being served, it may be cut into shapes. Damson cheese is usually served at dessert. Time, two or three hours to draw out the juice; about two hours to boil the sugar and fruit together. Probable cost, 9d. or 10d. a four-ounce jar. Sufficient, one pound of damsons for a small jar.
A fruit cheese contains no dairy: the name describes a paste stiff enough to turn out of a mould and slice. The whole recipe hangs on cooking the sugared pulp far past jam stage, until the spoon drags a clean channel across the pan bottom.
- Omit the kernelsDamson stones, like those of other stone fruit and like bitter almonds, contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when crushed or chewed. The almond-like flavour they give was prized in Victorian preserving, but leave them out and use a drop of almond extract if you want that note.
- The jar in a water bathThe earthenware jar standing in a pan of simmering water is a bain-marie, used to draw juice from the fruit without scorching it or adding water. A heatproof bowl over a pan of water, covered with foil, does the same; so does a covered ovenproof dish at 275-300F for two to three hours.
- Loaf sugarLoaf sugar was refined sugar sold in a cone, broken up with nippers before use. Ordinary granulated sugar is the direct replacement, weight for weight; no need to break anything.
- Sugar ratio and keepingHalf a pound of sugar to a pound of pulp is roughly 50 percent by weight of the fruit, well below jam proportions. The keeping quality comes from driving off water, not from sugar alone, so store the finished cheese in the refrigerator rather than a larder.
- Judging the setFruit cheese is done when a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a track that holds for a second or two and the paste pulls away from the sides in a mass, as the recipe's own test describes. It may well take less than the two hours stated in a wide modern pan; stir constantly toward the end -- the paste catches and burns quickly.
- SplatteringA thick fruit purée spits hard as it reduces. Use the widest heavy-based pan you have, a long-handled wooden spoon, and moderate rather than fierce heat once the mixture starts to thicken.
- Brandied papersRounds of paper dipped in brandy or oil were laid directly on the surface to keep mould off. A disc of parchment pressed to the surface plus a tight lid, with the jars refrigerated, is the modern equivalent.
- YieldA pound of damsons gives only a modest quantity of sieved pulp, and the book reckons a pound sufficient for its "small jar" -- it prices the result by the four-ounce jar. Multiply up; damsons are worth doing in quantity while they are in season.
- ServingTurn out and cut into cubes or thin slices. Sold as a dessert sweetmeat here, it is equally at home with hard cheese, cold game or roast lamb.
Fruit cheeses are among the oldest English keeping preserves, made by boiling sieved fruit and sugar until the mass is solid enough to be turned out of a mould, sliced and eaten in the hand -- "cheese" describing the shape and firmness rather than any milk. Damsons, small tart plums of the Prunus insititia group long grown in hedgerows and orchards in the West Midlands and the Welsh borders, are almost ideal for the purpose: high in acid and pectin, often too sharp to be enjoyed raw, and abundant for a few weeks in late summer. Damson cheese was particularly associated with Shropshire and Worcestershire households, where it is often said to have been kept a year or more before cutting, and served at dessert or alongside cold meat and hard cheese. Its place in Cassell's reflects a domestic economy in which a glut of cheap fruit had to be turned into something that would sit on a shelf until wanted, and in which the finished block could be presented at table cut into decorative shapes.