Damson Jam - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

Reduced Sugar Damson Jam, a beautifully sweet and tart homemade jam that is very easy to make with only 3 ingredients. Made with fresh seasonal fruit, this jam can keep well for up to 2 years if stored in a clean, dry place. Quick, delicious, a failproof jam recipe!

Autumn is the season of canning and preserving, and although jam making might sound like a daunting, time-consuming process, it's actually quite the opposite. If you have fresh seasonal fruit that would otherwise go to waste, you can put them to great use in jams and preserves.

What are damsons

Damsons are small, plum-like fruit with a violet or dark blue skin and a tart taste. It is widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in jams and preserves. They are longer in shape than plums, and the stones are rather hard to remove if they are not very ripe.

Ingredients needed to make damson jam

• damsons
• caster sugar - granulated sugar also ok
• lemon juice - fresh or from concentrate

Step-by-step photos and instructions

1. rinse the damsons with cold water
2. remove the stones by cutting the damsons in half using a sharp knife, or by squeezing them out if the fruit are very ripe
3. transfer the damsons to a pan set over a low to medium heat, and leave to simmer for 10 minutes - there is no need to add any water, as the ripe damsons are juicy enough
4. add the sugar and a teaspoon of lemon juice, give it a good stir, and leave to cook for 40 minutes or until the liquid is reduced stirring occasionally

Expert tips

Cooking time depends entirely on how ripe the damsons are. Unripe damsons are not only very tart, but don't have enough juice either, so you would have to add water as well as tons of sugar.

It is a common misconception that the ration fruit to sugar when making jam should be 1:1. To me, that's way too much sugar, to the point where you cannot taste the fruit anymore, but just sugar.

A ripe, naturally sweet fruit does not need that much sugar added to make jam. For my Old-Fashioned Blackberry Jam I used 800 g of sugar for 1.2 kg of fruit, and that was more than enough for that fruit.

For my Strawberry and Rhubarb Jam I used 250 g of sugar for 350 g strawberries plus 2 rhubarb stalks. It really doesn't need equal amounts of fruit and sugar, that's just not right to me.

For this damson jam I used 250 g caster sugar to 900 g damsons. The resulting jam is sweet with a hint of tartness, which I absolutely love. The low sugar jam is actually wonderfully fragrant, but if you'd rather add more sugar, feel free to increase the amount of sugar to whatever you are comfortable with.

You can actually add sugar as the jam cooks, rather than at the very beginning. There is no need for jam sugar with pectin added, as damsons, like plums, are high in pectin.

How to store the damson jam

If you are going to consume the jam in the following days, you can simply store it in a jar and refrigerate, it should be ok for up to 2 weeks.

Otherwise, to be kept for longer, the jars need to be sterilized. To do so, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit). Wash the jars, then transfer them to a tray and put them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the jars from the oven, and transfer the hot jam to the hot jars, making sure the lids are really tight - leave about ¼ headspace.

Place the jars upside down, and leave them to cool completely, before storing them in a cool, dry place.

Uses for damson jam

The jam is absolutely delicious on toast with butter, with semolina pudding or used for various cookies like jam tarts or thumbprint cookies. My favourite way to serve it though is with Romanian Papanasi, which are cheese donuts served with plenty of sour cream and jam.

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