Making damson jam: 'jamson'

Under the heading of preserves, I've made pickled veg, chutney and clementine curd, but never jam.

On a walk a couple of days ago, while out walking with a friend, I spotted an amazing array of plum (or maybe damson) trees bordering the footpath. We'd already enjoyed apples and blackberries along the way. 'I'm coming back with a bowl,' I said. And I did. 

I was thinking of making damson gin (I like to make drinks from foraged finds) but my partner surprised me by suggesting jam, adding that he'd made it before. He couldn't remember when, or what type, but he'd definitely done it.

So I dug out my ancient Delia Smith Complete Cookery Course and found a recipe, conveniently for around the weight of damsons we had, about 2kg.

We heated the sugar in the oven, as directed, then into the pan (not a special preserving pan, just a big saucepan) with the sugar and fruit and it was soon boiling away.

The bit I was waiting for was the wrinkle test, when you drop a blob of your soon-to-be-jam on a cold plate and push it with your finger to see if it wrinkles. We did this about five times – 'another five minutes' – before it was set.

What went wrong
I forgot to remove the stones, so need to put warning labels on some of the jars. Before I filled the biggest jar, I put the remaining jam through a sieve, picked out the stones, then scraped the mush into the jar.

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