Damson jam

[Kea]

Made my first ever batch of Damson Jam using some of my prizewinning damsons and also some I bought. The recipe was equal quantities of damsons to sugar. I used jam sugar which may have been a mistake, followed instructions to make sure it reached 105 C and also instructions to boil it hard before testing for setting.

My OH told me today when we tried it that it could be used for pointing bricks!

It has set very firm and is also a little sweet for our taste, though I wonder if that is because the bought damsons were very ripe.

Advice from the experts for next time...please?

[Kea]

[kypfer]

Unfortunately damsons are knee-deep in their own pectin - ordinary granulated sugar is perfectly adequate for damson jam. I use 12oz sugar to 1lb cooked fruit for sweet fruit like damsons, the result is a little "tangy", but I like it like that. If your jam is a little "firm", you can always CAREFULLY re-melt it, add more water and go for a "looser" set ... even add more cooked fruit if you want to reduce the sweetness.

I'm not sure that 105C is necessary with added pectin, nevertheless, it's possible that your thermometer is inaccurate (mine certainly is), best just use the thermometer as a guide that things are slowly getting hotter than boiling (calibrate it against a pan of boiling water) then do multiple "set tests" with a cold spoon and plate ... rememmber to remove the jam from the heat during each test if it's a relatively small quantity, things can change quite quickly if you've only got a couple of pounds of jam in the pan.

[Kea]

Thanks Kypfer...I'll do all that next time. It still tastes good just more like damson cheese in consistency.