Chef Thomas
Apple Chutney
A spiced autumn chutney made from a glut of apples and a quiet afternoon, simmered down until the kitchen smells of October and the jars line up on the counter like a small, useful insurance policy.
Culinary Explorer
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Damson Jam
Created by Chef Thomas
Small, dark damsons cooked down with sugar into a glossy, ruby-black jam that tastes of October mornings and tastes even better in the middle of February.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
20 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 20 min total
YieldApproximately 6 jars (about 1.5kg)
Damsons are not patient fruit. They arrive in late September, hang heavily on the trees through October, and then they're gone. Miss the window and you wait another year. The market decides.
They're the wrong fruit for almost everything except jam. Too sour to eat raw, too small to bother stoning properly, with skins that pucker your mouth and stones that cling to the flesh like they mean it. But cooked down with sugar, something quietly miraculous happens. The sourness becomes depth. The astringency becomes complexity. The colour deepens from bright purple to a glossy, almost-black ruby that looks like wine in the jar. There is no jam in the British calendar quite like it.
I make this every year when the damsons come in, usually on a Saturday morning when the kitchen is cold and the rain is doing whatever it does in late October. The whole house smells of stewed fruit and warm sugar for half a day, and by the evening there are six jars lined up on the side, still warm to the touch, the colour of winter evenings. I wrote it down in the notebook the first time I made it: damsons, sugar, water, patience. That was twenty-odd years ago and I haven't changed a thing.
A spoonful on toast in the dead of January is one of the more useful things you can do with an October afternoon. We're only making jam, but we're also making sure that something of this autumn lasts.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
damsons
Quantity
1.5kg
washed, stalks removed
granulated sugar
Quantity
1.5kg
water
Quantity
300ml
unsalted butter (optional)
Quantity
small knob
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| damsonswashed, stalks removed | 1.5kg |
| granulated sugar | 1.5kg |
| water | 300ml |
| unsalted butter (optional) | small knob |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy-bottomed preserving pan or stockpot
- •Wooden spoon
- •Slotted spoon
- •Six clean jam jars with lids
- •Small saucer for testing the set
- •Ladle and a wide-mouthed funnel if you have one
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the jars
Wash six jam jars in hot soapy water, rinse them, and put them upside down on a baking tray in a low oven, around 120C, until you need them. Boil the lids in a pan of water for a few minutes. Hot jars, hot jam. Cold jars will crack the moment you ladle the first spoonful in.
Old jam jars are fine. Mismatched is part of the charm. What matters is that they're properly clean and properly hot when the jam goes in. - 2
Soften the fruit
Tip the damsons and the water into a large, heavy-bottomed pan. Bring it slowly to a gentle simmer and let the fruit cook for twenty to thirty minutes, stirring now and then. The skins will split, the flesh will collapse, and the kitchen will start to smell like autumn at its most generous. Don't rush this. The fruit needs to break down completely before the sugar goes in.
- 3
Fish out the stones
This is the part nobody warns you about. As the damsons cook, the stones float free of the flesh, and you spend the next ten minutes lifting them out with a slotted spoon. You will not get them all. Don't try. A few will stay behind and you'll find them later, on a teaspoon, in November. That's just how damson jam works.
Some people sieve the cooked fruit instead, pushing it through a coarse sieve to leave the stones behind. It's tidier but you lose some of the texture. I prefer the messier method. - 4
Add the sugar
Pour in the sugar and stir over a low heat until every grain has dissolved. Run the back of a wooden spoon up the side of the pan; if you can feel any grittiness, keep stirring. Sugar that hasn't dissolved properly will crystallize in the jar and you'll regret it in February.
- 5
Bring to a rolling boil
Turn the heat up and bring the jam to a furious, rolling boil. Not a polite simmer. A proper, volcanic, doesn't-stop-when-you-stir-it boil. Damsons are full of pectin, so the jam sets quickly, often in ten to fifteen minutes. Watch it. Stir occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom. The colour will deepen from bright purple to a dark, glossy ruby that looks almost black in the pan.
If a foamy scum rises to the surface, stir in a small knob of butter at the end. It dissolves the foam without altering the flavour. An old trick that still works. - 6
Test for the set
Put a small saucer in the freezer before you start the boil. To test, take the pan off the heat for a moment and drop half a teaspoon of jam onto the cold saucer. Wait thirty seconds, then push it gently with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, it's ready. If it slides about like syrup, give it another few minutes and try again. Trust the wrinkle. It knows.
- 7
Jar the jam
Take the pan off the heat and let it settle for a couple of minutes, just long enough for the fruit to distribute evenly through the jam rather than floating to the top. Ladle into the hot jars, filling them almost to the brim. Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth, screw the lids on tightly, and leave them on the side to cool. You'll hear the lids pop as they seal, a small, satisfying sound that means winter is taken care of.
Chef Tips
- •If you can't find damsons at a farmers' market, ask around. People with damson trees almost always have more than they can use, and they're usually delighted to give them away. A bag of foraged damsons is the start of the best jam you'll make all year.
- •Equal weights of fruit and sugar is the old rule, and it's the right one. Less sugar and the jam won't set properly or keep through the winter. More and you lose the fruit. Trust the proportions.
- •Don't try to stone the damsons before cooking. It's a fool's errand. They give up their stones willingly once they've softened in the pan, and you can fish most of them out then. The few that remain are part of the deal.
- •Sealed properly into hot, sterilized jars, the jam keeps for at least a year in a cool dark cupboard. Once opened, refrigerate and use within a month, though it never lasts that long.
Advance Preparation
- •Sterilize the jars while the fruit is cooking, so they're hot and ready when the jam reaches setting point. Cold jars will crack.
- •Sealed and stored in a cool, dark cupboard, the jam keeps for at least a year. The flavour deepens after a few weeks, so try to leave a jar or two unopened until Christmas if you can manage it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 20g)
Calories
55 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
0 g
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