The way to Damson Jam

Damson Jam has the greatest intense flavour and a great balance between intense sweetness and the bitter sharp undertones. But these small plums with the stones clinging onto the fruit are tiresome and laborious to prepare. I read across many recipes and this is the method I followed which has produced a well set jam, full on flavour and not unduly arduous to make. Weigh your just ripe damsons, (thank you Pixford Fruit Farm, Bishops Lydeard for perfect fruit) and weigh out an equal measure of granulated sugar. Put the sugar in a low oven to warm. Using a cherry stoner, remove the stones from each fruit keeping the fruit separate from the stones. The stones will cling on to some of the fruit depending on how ripe the damsons are. No matter. Put the de-stoned fruit into a large enough preserving pan so you have room to easily turn the fruit around and put over a very low heat. At this moment you are just warming the fruit through, getting the juices to flow. Put the stones and their clinging fruit into another saucepan together with a small quantity of water. I used just under three-quarter pint water to 5lb of fruit so you must adjust the water to suit your weight of fruit. Put onto a medium to high heat but watch and keep giving an occasional stir. Very quickly the pulp will begin to thicken the water which will easily catch and burn on the bottom of the pan, a good sign that these damson have a high pectin content. When the stones are clear of any pulp, time to use a colander, yes colander not a sieve, put the stones, pulp and juice into the colander over the preserving pan that holds the fruit and stir with a spoon until just the stones are left. Discard the stones. Now turn up the heat to about a medium heat and gently simmer the fruit and the pulp juice until  the fruit and skins are soft. Remember to keep stirring occasionally as the pulp will again catch and burn very easily on the bottom of the pan. If the pulp starts to get very thick, wash the stones with a very little water just enough to slacken the pulp. Be careful when adding water, too much and the fruit wont set or you will have to boil off excess water spoiling the deep flavour, not enough and it will catch and burn. The fruit will soften very quickly and doesn't need boiling. Time to add the sugar, raise heat to highest setting, stir until sugar dissolved. With a thermometer watch the temperature rise, give the odd stir to even the heat out, until 104°C is reached. This will happen very quickly, do a plate wrinkle test for peace of mind that you have a good set. Give a final stir to make sure all is at this temperature, check temperature again, then remove from heat. Skim off the scum and leave for 20 minutes before filling your pre-warmed jars. Screw the lids on tight and impatiently wait for the next day to try out this delicious jam.

Jam Making

I have a confession. Been making jam/marmalade for years. Usually manage to get good flavour, usually avoiding over caramelising the sugar but so seldom have my sets come out right. Done all the reading, done all the tests, finger test, temperature, pectin but mostly to no avail, even for those sure fire jams that novices can do with their eyes closed! Recent years I have got so despondent I spoke frequently of giving up and do no more, but, that taste of homemade is so superior I end up trying for that one more time.

A few caveats, I do not use commercial setting agents or pectin's, except in extremis. I reckon that what with all the mess for washing up, all the waste of scum or residue on a variety of tools pots and pans and processing time spent it is better to do one large batch than a number of small ones. In anycase I seems I still have a family if not to feed then to pass jars onto.

Just completed this years Dundee and also a Seville Marmalade, its looking like I may have cracked it at last. Hence this posting just incase it helps anyone out there floundering like me. Or some sharp eyed maestro can spot the errors of my ways!
 
I now routinely use a digital thermometer with a set (104°C) temperature alarm. Past reading has also highlighted, amongst other things, the need to bring the temperature up quickly and to work in small batches. But no this was not small batches, it was one large batch in my usual large preserving pan that oversails the ceramic top hob. So what was new. Well paid a lot attention to reducing the liquor level well beyond the recipe level before adding the pre-warmed sugar. My concern is not volume produced but that whatever is produced sets well. Watching the temperature rise it took a long time coming even though the probe was in the middle of the rolling boil and off the bottom. In fact it never reached a high enough temperature to trigger the temperature alarm (on my thermometer it waits until 105°C). When I stirred to make sure there was no sticking on the bottom, it happens, the temperature plummeted by almost 20°C then took a long time to get back, frequently oscillating up and down.

This then is what I have discovered. It is not just enough that the probe shows the desired temperature but the whole of the jam has to get up to that temperature. That means, leaving it alone, only folding the pan edges in at the last moment before leaving it to recover. It will take longer than the book says, particularly if your pot is wider than the heating source. It is a tightrope walk, overcook it then it caramelises, undercook it then the bulk is still under temperature, stir it and you lose massive heat, not sir it and the edges are too cold.

Don't despair, make sure your liquor is reduced well before adding the sugar then watch the temperature fluctuations and wait until it is fairly stable and you know the edges have recently been bought in. You can do it. It is worth it.