Damson jam

I'm a girl of my word. If I make a promise, then I'll go to pretty much any length to keep it. Come hell or high water, it takes a lot for me to break my word. So when we promised Jon's parents that we were going to take some of their damson harvest off their hands, it was a promise that I wasn't going to take lightly.

And that is how it came to pass that we ended up with four bags of damsons.

Four bags. Not four piddling sandwich bags. But four plastic bags worth of damsons tucked away in our freezer, waiting for us to work our magic on them.

Two into the damson wine their way went. (soon to be blogged)
One still sits in the freezer.
And the other?
Well that took the path of damson jam.

I love damson jam. In a world where you can get strawberry jam all year round, likewise for apricot, blackberry and raspberry, I've never understood why damson jam seems to be the one that gets left behind? It's like the bad egg of the jam family - except it isn't. Nothing can beat the velvety richness of a homemade damson jam on doorstep thick slabs of bread and a smear of butter. Mmmn.

So thank you to Jon's parents. And cheers to promises left unbroken.

Simple Damson Jam
1kg damsons
1kg granulated or Preserving sugar
300ml water

Put your jam jars into an oven on a low heat for 15 minutes or in the dishwasher on a hot wash to sterilise
Chop the damsons into half, removing the stones from the centre.
Add the damsons and the water to the pan and cook until soft and pulpy
Add the sugar, stir until dissolved on a low heat
Once the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and bring the jam to a rolling boil until it has reached setting point
To test for setting point either take a very cold plate from the freezer and drop a bit of jam onto it. Leave for a few seconds. If it sets on the plate, it's ready. Or use a thermometer - setting point is 105 degrees
Funnel into sterilised jars and seal