Damson Jam – Two Ingredients, No Added Pectin

Damson jam is delicious, flavourful and a great change from better known fruit jams. These smaller, less common relatives of the plum are easy to make into perserves. It’s worth hunting out a source of damsons to make this delicious damson jam recipe.

Damson jam

Damsons are a type of plum that is great for making jam. The small, tart fruits contain plenty of pectin, making it easy to get a good set.

See also

• How to make jam – all the technical knowledge you need to make jam and jelly successfully every time.
• How to sterilize jars for preserving – everything you need to know for storing jam safely.
• Try this traditional easy small batch plum jam for a slightly sweeter conserve.
• Plum and apple jam sets beautifully, aided by the high pectin content of the apples.
• For a delicious variation on the them, try this damson jelly – good with sweet and savoury food.

The resulting jam retains a hint of tartness, a nice grown-up flavour that is not sickly. It’s delicious on crumpets, scones and pancakes, or any of your favourite tea-time treats.

One of the many things I like about this damson jam recipe is that it is a little bit unusual. You don’t see so much damson jam on the supermarket shelves, and when you do find it, it belongs to the more expensive ranges.

For this reason alone, it’s well worth learning how to make your own damson jam, so read on for my easy recipe.

Why make damson jam

• A delicious change from the usual suspects

• An easy jam, with lots of natural pectin in the fruit for a great set

• Homemade is so much tastier, and you are not going to easily be able to find a jar for sale to buy.

• This damson jam recipe is scalable to match the yield of your damson trees!

How to identify damsons

If you have a helpful greengrocer or your own trees (in which case, lucky you!), you will not need to worry about identifying damsons. If you have neither, however, damsons are one of those fruits you may be lucky enough to find growing wild.

Wild damsons are also known as bullaces. They are smaller and rounder than cultivated fruit. Damsons are generally rather tart and the wild versions are more tart than cultivars.

Make sure you don’t mistake sloes for wild damson. They have a similar colour and bloom, but sloes are smaller. Blackthorn trees have thorns while damsons do not, so if in doubt, check the branches.

As with all foraged fruit, try to pick from a tree that is away from traffic with the fruit growing high enough to be out of the way of dogs and other animals. Obviously, you should get permission from the landowner before harvesting.

When to pick damsons

Damsons are ready to harvest from August through October. Pick them when they have begun to soften slightly, and follow Mrs Beeton’s advice to pick them in fine rather than wet weather.

If you only have a few ripe fruit on the tree, bag them and freeze them. You can keep adding to the bag until you have enough to make your jam.

I strongly recommend freezing the fruit before cooking for this damson jam recipe, so you will not lose anything by doing this.

Damson jam ingredients

• Damsons – frozen and defrosted. Discard any that are soft and overripe.

• Sugar – white granulated sugar. There’s no need for jam sugar, though you can use preserving sugar if you prefer.

How to freeze damsons

Pick over the damsons removing any that have very soft spots, are split or have any damage to the skin.

Pack into plastic bags whole, tie up the bag and freeze.

They will defrost in about 30 minutes, spread out on a tray.

How to remove damson stones

The most difficult aspect of making damson jam is removing the stones. This seems to be a universal pain, as damsons are small and fiddly, with flesh that clings to the stone.

Some people leave the stones in. This seems not only unsatisfactory but lazy. If you are happy to have stones in your jam, do warn anyone who might bite down on one.

Alternatively, you can cook the fruit and then skim the stones off. You may, however, still be left with some in the jam, and the only way to avoid it is to count them in and out.

You can cut the stones out with a knife, but I find this awkward and frustrating, and while using a cherry pitter on fresh fruit works up to a point, you can still struggle with some of them and you seem to lose a lot of fruit.

I have a better solution, that works very well for me: freeze and then defrost the fruit before using a cherry pitter.

First, freeze your damsons!

This is my best tip for making damson jam and I really do recommend that you try it. Freeze the damsons and then use a cherry pitter on the defrosted fruit. You still have to pull some out by hand, but by and large the stone pops out without too much flesh attached.

I find this is so much quicker and easier than trying to stone the fresh fruit. It took me about 10 minutes to stone 700 g of damsons for my latest batch.

Having frozen and defrosted, the damsons are really juicy. The sugar dissolves faster, and you don’t need to add water, so the mixture will reach setting point faster.

In short, although you have to factor in a little bit of extra time for the damsons to spend in the freezer and defrosting, the hands-on time for making your jam will be reduced and everything is so much easier.

If you are making jelly as well as jam, throw the stones into the damsons you are cooking for that. The flesh will boil off the stones into the jelly fruit and the pits will stay in the jelly bag, so there’s no risk to your teeth!

How to make damson jam – step by step

Before you start, read my step-by-step instructions, with photos, hints and tips so you can make this recipe perfectly every time.

Scroll down for the recipe card with quantities and more tips at the bottom of the page.

Step One – Freeze damsons to make removing the stones easier, and then allow them to defrost. Pop the stones out of the frozen and defrosted damsons with a cherry pitter, squeezing as much flesh off them as you can.

Helen’s Pro Tip
If you don’t have enough time to make the jam but have a glut of fruit, just leave the fruit in the freezer until you are ready. I divide the damsons into quantities suitable for a medium saucepan: about 700g. Seal into bags and freeze.

Step Two – Pour the sugar over the fruit and stir. Cover and leave overnight, so that the sugar draws out the juice.

If you can’t leave your damsons overnight, don’t worry too much. A few hours will be enough. Equally, it is fine to leave it longer, to come back to the next evening. In warmer weather, I leave the bowl in the fridge.

Step Three – In the morning, a syrup will have formed and some of the sugar dissolved. It will look like there is too much undissolved sugar, too much syrup and not enough fruit – don’t worry – everything will be fine.

Make sure you have clean jars ready for the next stage.

Step Four – Put the fruit and sugar mixture in a large saucepan. You need plenty of space, as the bubbling hot jam will rise up and you don’t want it to boil over. The saucepan should be less than half full at the start.

Heat the ingredients gently, bringing them up to simmer, but not boil until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir gently to get rid on any remaining sugar crystals. It may look like a lot of liquid at first, but the jam mixture will reduce.

While you are making the jam on the stove, heat your jam jars in the oven on a low setting.

Step Five – Once all the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and cook the jam at a rolling boil until it reaches the setting point of 105°C (221°F). Stir frequently, running a spoon or spatula over the bottom of the pan so that none of the fruit sticks.

This will take approximately 10 minutes, depending on the size and shape of your pan.

How to test for setting point

This is the only tricky bit of making jam: checking it’s hot enough to set, so that when cool, it will be jam rather than liquid.

The temperature test. Digital jam thermometers are widely available, and not expensive. They are much easier to read than traditional jam thermometers. Heat the jam to the setting point (usually 105°C/221°F) and once your jam is there, you know it should be ready.
Caution: Use temperature only as a guide. Once the thermometer reads 105°C, I give the jam a good stir to get rid of any hot spots and then test with the wrinkle test.

The wrinkle test. Put a couple of side plates in the freezer before you start work. Once the jam is boiling, start testing by placing some on one of the plates. Allow it to cool on the plate. Then push your fingernail through the jam. If you see it wrinkle up ahead of your finger, it is ready. This technique takes a bit of practice.

The flake test. Take a spoonful from the pan and turn it vertically to tip out the jam. If the jam runs off, it hasn’t set. If, however, some sticks to the spoon in a sort of wide drip that doesn’t fall, the jam is ready. Again, this works best with some practice.

For more in-depth coverage, read my full guide to jam setting point.

Step Six – Take the jam off the heat and let it cool for about five minutes. This allows it to thicken a little, and helps you to get an even distribution of fruit pieces in the jam jar.

Pour your jam into the warm sterilized jars. I find it easiest to do this by transferring the jam to a sterilized shatterproof jug and then pouring through a jam funnel.

With chunkier jams you can get some tiny air bubbles in the pots. To avoid this, pour slowly. Give the tray of jars a gentle swirl or rap on the worktop. You can also stir the jam slowly with the end of a sterilized spoon, which should dislodge them.

Wipe away any drips and seal the jars with the lids, making sure they are secure. Leave them to cool and then check that they have sealed. The dimple in the lids will be depressed. If not, you should be able to pop it down with a gentle pressure, and it should stay in that position.

If you have a jar that won’t seal properly, keep it in the fridge and use that jar first.

Serving suggestion

Use just as you would any jam. Enjoy it spread on toast, toasted muffins or crumpets, or on a buttered scone for tea. Use it as a filling for pancakes or a jam roly poly.

Variations

• Add a squeeze of fresh orange juice and a pinch of cinnamon for a winter spiced plum jam.

• Try adding just a little ginger.

• Stir in a splash of gin or port.

Storage

Check the jars are sealed. If any fail to seal, keep them in the fridge and use those jars first.

Well sealed jars should be kept in a cool dark cupboard, where they will last for years.

Hints and tips

• Always choose a deep pan for making jam. Boiling sugar liquid is very hot, and you don’t want to scald yourself with any splashes. A long spatula or wooden spoon helps too.

• Don’t forget to heat the jars while you cook the jam, even if you have already sterilized them. If you pour hot liquid into cold glass, the glass may shatter.

• A jam funnel is a cheap piece of equipment that is well worth the investment.

FAQs

Damson jam recipe – ingredient ratios & yield

It is easy to scale jam recipes up or down, so you might just want to work to the quantity of fruit you have. I do recommend that you avoid working in very large batches, though.

These are the ingredient ratios for this damson jam recipe, so you can adjust it to your fruit:

• You lose about 20% of the weight of the whole fruit in the stone. This will vary according to how large or ripe your damsons are, but this is a good starting point.
• The weight of the sugar needs to be about 100 % that of the destoned fruit (so a 1:1 sugar: prepared fruit ratio).
• 700 g damsons yield about 570 g of prepared, stoned fruit, and that made 840 ml of jam.
• Yield and set of the finished jam can vary according to the ripeness of the fruit. The variation in natural pectin levels means different times at a rolling boil, which will vary the amount of liquid that is boiled off.

More jam recipes

• Rhubarb jam – an easy classic

• Apricot jam – a universal favourite and so useful in cakes and tarts

• Small batch nectarine jam – another irresistible conserve that you rarely find in the store

• Damson gin – a traditional digestif that’s so easy to make