Damson crumble, Damson & 3 Spice Jam .....

Yesterday I went to a friends house in Peyraube where he has a 200 year old damson tree laden with beautiful fruit, ideal for making jam or just eating straight from the tree.  I picked around 10kg of fruit in about half an hour, not bad going considering it was so hot.

Damson tree - 200 years old and still producing

So for dinner last night I made a damson crumble for pudding and very nice it was too.

Damsons

Damson Crumble recipe (4 generous portions):

  700 grams damsons
  70 grams butter
  120 grams plain flour
  30 grams flaked almonds
  30 grams porridge oats
  30 grams light brown sugar

Stoned damsons

Rub butter and flour together, stir in almonds, oats and sugar.  Stone damsons and put in an oven proof dish with some sugar.  Top with crumble.  Bake for about 25 mins - until the crumble is golden - oven temperature 170 C.

Damson crumble

Damson crumble served with vanilla ice cream

Then this afternoon I used some more to make a very tasty Damson and 3 Spice jam fingers crossed it will taste ok as it was my own recipe.  With the temperature in the kitchen reaching 30 degrees, probably not the best day for jam making!

30 degrees in the kitchen

Damson and 3 Spice Jam recipe:

  2 1/2 kg damsons
  2 1/2kg sugar
  1/4 pt water
  20 cloves
  10 cardamoms (seeds only)
  2 nutmegs

Stone damsons, cook with water, add sugar and ground spices, boil until setting point is reached.  Pour into jars, immediately place the lids and invert jars, this sterilises the lids.  I made 8 jars of various sizes.