Homemade Damson Jam

This wonderful jam recipe has been supplied by Love British Food Ambassador Jenny Daswon, who is founder and CEO of Rubies in the Rubble.

Yummy home-made jam… bringing back memories of summer fruits in those winter nights! This recipe is interchangeable with plums – delicious with either.

Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

• 1kg washed damsons
• 1kg golden granulated sugar
• knob of butter

Method

1. Slit the fruit then put them into a tall-sided pan with 150ml of water; use less water for very ripe fruit.
2. Simmer until the fruit is soft then cool and remove as many stones as possible.
3. Stir in the sugar over a low heat until it has completely dissolved then immediately raise the heat to a full, rolling boil for about 10mins / until the setting point (105C) is reached.
4. Remove from heat and skim off any excess scum. Then stir your knob of butter across the surface. This should dissolve any remaining scum.
5. Leave for 15mins before pouring into sterilsed jars. Label and seal.
6. Tips for sterilizing jam jars: put them in the dishwasher on a hot wash or clean well in hot soapy water and dry in a warm oven,
7. Setting point: if you don’t have a jam thermometer, to check if you have reached setting point, remove the pan from the heat, spoon a little onto a cold plate and wait for it too cool. Once cooled, push it with your finger. Your jam should wrinkle if setting point is reached. If not, put the pan back on the heat and raise it to rolling boil again and try again!
8. Go on, have a dollop!