Have you ever tried Damson Jam? It’s truly delicious but I can’t deny previously I’ve found it a faff removing the stones, so I had a play and came up with a simple way to make this jam hassle free by freezing and defrosting the damsons before I start.
So many friends and family have loved eating this jam and I hope you do too!
Damson & Gin Jam Recipe
Equipment
- 1 maslin pan or deep saucepan
- Digital weighing scales
- Long handled wooden spoon or Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 kg Fresh damsons with their stones in washed and all stalks removed (see tip before you start you can do this with defrosted damsons or straight from being picked)
- 1 kg Granulated sugar
- 60 ml cold tap water
- 20 ml Gin – your choice of gin
- 15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
- Start by putting 3 saucers into the freezer to chill. Sterilise your jam jars: I wash mine in hot soapy water, rinse them out and then dry them off in an oven set to 100C/Fan 80C/Gas ¼.
- Wash the damsons and ensure all stalks have been removed.Freeze for around 3 hours then defrost. IMPORTANT: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO FREEZE THE DAMSONS SEE MY ADVICE IN THE TIPS BELOW.
- In a separate bowl, squeeze out the damson stones so that you are left with just the damson. I always recommend using rubber gloves or disposable gloves to avoid staining your fingers. Discard the stones.
- Tip the damsons into a wide, heavy-based pan (ideally a maslin or preserving pan). Add the water and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Then add the sugar, lemon juice and gin to the pan and stir together.Turn the heat up and bring it to the boil. Boil for approximately 20 minutes. I keep checking it and stirring during this time to avoid it sticking or burning. If you are using gas this may be a shorter time as gas gets the pan hotter quicker. Check for any stones as you are stirring in case you have missed any, they normally will rise to the surface.
- After 20 minutes turn the jam down and take a saucer from the freezer, tip a teaspoon of jam onto it and put it in the fridge for 1 minute.
- Take the saucer out of the fridge and push it with your finger. If it wrinkles a little, the jam is ready. If there's no wrinkle then boil the jam again for another 3 minutes and test again with another saucer out of the freezer. Repeat this process until you get the little wrinkle.
- Take the jam off the heat. Let it cool for 5-10 mins.Skim off any jam scum, I use a long handled ladle to scoop it off and its mainly around the sides of the pan.Take the jars out of the oven just as you are ready to fill them.
- To get it into the jars you can either use a ladle or I tend to tip the jam into a jug and then pour it into the jars. Add the jam jar lids and tighten but be careful they are still hot.
- The jam will keep well in the jar for at least 3 months (if you can resist it that long). Once opened, store in the fridge.
Notes
Tip: Description for making with freshly picked Damsons.You can make this recipe without freezing your Damsons; it just takes longer to ensure all of the stones are removed. To remove the stones when cooking follow this advice:
Put the whole damsons into the maslin / preserving pan with the water and simmer gently until the fruit is soft. This can take around 15 minutes.
As the fruit softens, press the fruit against the side of the pan to break open the damson and release the stones. Using a slotted spoon carefully remove all of the stones and place them in another bowl, making sure that you leave as much fruit as you can to return to the pan.Repeat this until you have removed all of the stones.
My Mum always used to count how many damsons she used so she knew how many stones she should be removing, I’ve never been this organised!
Discard the stones and then follow the recipe above from point number 5.
