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DAMSON JAM (Bullace or Common Plum)
All fruits to be preserved should be gathered after two successive dry days, if possible. Get damsons quite ripe and freshly gathered; boil them forty minutes without sugar, then simmer and skim fifteen minutes with three-quarters of a pound of good sugar to each pound of damsons. Common sugar is thought by some persons to be good enough for dark-coloured preserves, but it is not the most economical, as will be shown by the quantity of scum which rises to the surface. Put into pots and cover with egged paper, which readily sticks to the pots and excludes the air. A paper dipped in brandy may be laid on the top of the jam, but it is not necessary. Store in a dry place. Probable cost, 6d. to 8d. per pound pot.
A straightforward high-sugar jam whose only real complications are the stones and the Victorian method of covering the pots.
- The stonesDamsons cling to their stones, and the recipe leaves the fruit whole, so the stones stay in the pan. Many loosen during the long first boil and can be lifted out as they rise; count them as you go, or expect to be fishing them from the jar with a teaspoon later. (The "skim" the recipe calls for is scum, not stones.)
- Why the fruit boils firstForty minutes without sugar breaks down the skins and releases pectin from the flesh and skins; sugar added at the start firms the skins and gives a tough, chewy jam. This order is the hinge of the recipe.
- Sugar ratioThree-quarters of a pound of sugar per pound of fruit is about 12 oz sugar to 1 lb damsons, or roughly 340 g to 450 g. Damsons are acidic and pectin-rich, so this lower-than-modern proportion sets well and keeps the fruit's sharpness.
- "Good sugar"Nineteenth-century "common" sugar was less refined and carried more molasses and impurities, which is what produced the scum the writer complains about. Any modern granulated or preserving sugar behaves like the "good sugar" here.
- Judging the setThe fifteen minutes of simmering is a guide, not a rule. Take the jam to 220F/105C, or test a spoonful on a chilled saucer until it wrinkles when pushed.
- Egged paper and brandy paperPaper brushed with beaten egg white shrinks tight as it dries and was the standard air excluder before screw lids; the brandy round discouraged surface mould. Neither is a seal by modern standards. Fill hot into sterilised jars with proper lids, and keep opened jars in the refrigerator.
- Bullaces and common plumsBullaces are generally sharper and less sweet than damsons, so the recipe's 12 oz of sugar per pound is well judged for them; ordinary dessert plums are sweeter and lower in acid, and benefit from a squeeze of lemon juice to help the set.
- YieldNot stated. Reckon on about 1 1/2 lb of finished jam for every pound of damsons plus its sugar.
Damsons sit at the frugal end of the Victorian preserving year: a small, astringent, freestone-resistant plum grown in hedgerows and cottage gardens across England, too sharp for the dessert table and therefore destined for jam, cheese, or the dyer's vat, since damson juice was long used to colour cloth. The name is generally traced to damascenum, the plum of Damascus, reflecting an eastern Mediterranean origin for the group. Cassell's grouping of damson with bullace and "common plum" is practical rather than botanical, and the quoted cost of sixpence to eightpence a pot marks this as a household economy at the cheap end of the preserve shelf, unlike apricot or greengage. The instruction to gather fruit after two dry days is sound: rain-swollen plums carry water into the pan and dilute both the sugar and the pectin.