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Damson Jelly
Wipe and pick over damsons; then prick several times with a large pin. Make same as Currant Jelly, using threefourths as much sugar as fruit juice.
A cross-reference recipe: the whole method lives under Currant Jelly, and only the sugar ratio and the pricking are given here. Damsons carry plenty of pectin and acid, so the jelly sets readily if you do not overcook the juice.
- The hinge: don't overboil the juiceExtract the juice, boil it, add the sugar (heated), then boil only until it sheets from a spoon or reads 220F/104C at sea level. The exact boiling times belong to the Currant Jelly recipe this one points you to. Damson pectin sets fast, and pushing past that point gives a stiff, caramel-tinged jelly.
- Sugar ratioThree-fourths as much sugar as juice, most likely by measure: 3/4 cup sugar per cup of strained juice. That is less than the pound-of-sugar-to-pint-of-juice found in many jelly recipes, probably because damsons are so acid and pectin-rich.
- The prickingDamson skins are tough and waxy; piercing each fruit lets the juice out during heating rather than having the fruit burst unevenly. Leave the stones in and unbroken, and discard them with the pulp.
- Extracting the juiceCover the fruit with a little water, simmer until soft, then drain through a scalded jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth. Do not squeeze the bag if you want a clear jelly.
- SealingThe period practice was paraffin over the top; that is no longer recommended, as mold can grow under an imperfect wax seal. Pour into hot sterilized jars and process in a boiling-water bath for 5 to 10 minutes, or refrigerate and use within a few weeks.
- YieldAbout 4 lb of damsons gives roughly 3 to 4 cups of juice, which makes four to five half-pint jars.
- Damsons themselvesSmall oval plums, blue-black, astringent and almost inedible raw. Farmers' markets and orchard stands are the likeliest source; Italian prune plums are the nearest substitute, though they are sweeter and lower in acid.
Damsons take their name from Damascus by way of the Latin prunum damascenum, the plum of Damascus, and they had been grown in England for centuries before New England hedgerows and farm orchards inherited them. Because the fruit is too sour and too full of stone to eat out of hand, much of its culinary life was in preserving: damson cheese, damson jam, damson gin, and jelly, though damsons were also baked in pies, tarts and puddings. Fannie Farmer's habit of writing such recipes as one-line variants on a master method, here Currant Jelly, may reflect a way of teaching in which a pupil learned the principle of jelly-making once and then applied it to whatever fruit the season brought, adjusting only the sugar to suit the fruit's acidity and pectin.