The Hedgerow Harvest

Few things sum up countryside living quite like a hedgerow heavy with damsons in early autumn. The small, oval, blue-black fruits with their dusty bloom are the great-grandparents of many a garden plum, and they grow in profusion along field boundaries and lane sides across Britain. Their flavour is bracingly sharp, almost astringent when raw, but cooked with sugar they turn into something quite extraordinary — a deep ruby preserve with a tart edge that marmalade lovers adore and children learn to appreciate.

Jam-making is the traditional use for a glut, and it is one of the most forgiving preserves you can attempt. Damsons are naturally high in pectin, so they set reliably without any added gelling agent. The main work is in the stoning, and the main reward is a store cupboard full of jewel-coloured jars that see you through to spring.

Picking and Preparing Your Fruit

Damsons ripen from late August through October, and a cold snap seems to mellow them, though a hard frost is not strictly necessary. Pick fruit that comes away with a gentle tug and has an unbroken bloom. Always ask the landowner first, and never strip a hedge bare — leave plenty for the birds, the small mammals and next year's crop.

Discard any fruit with a small hole, which usually means plum moth grub. Check the rest carefully before you start:

• Rinse the damsons in a colander and pick out leaves and stalks.
• Weigh the fruit after washing — you will need roughly equal weights of fruit and sugar.
• Prick each damson with a skewer or freeze them overnight; this helps them break down and release their juice.

Stones are the fiddly bit. The easiest method is to simmer the fruit first until it collapses, then fish the stones out with a slotted spoon once the pulp has cooled slightly. Alternatively, rub the cooked pulp through a coarse sieve, which gives a smoother jam and removes skins and stones in one go.

What You Will Need

Use a large, heavy-based preserving pan — stainless steel or enamelled. Aluminium reacts with the fruit acid and turns the jam grey. Beyond that:

• 1.4kg damsons and 1.4kg granulated or preserving sugar
• About 200ml water to start the fruit off
• The juice of one lemon
• A long wooden spoon, a jam thermometer if you have one, and a wide-mouthed funnel
• Half a dozen sterilised jars with new lids

Warming the sugar in a low oven before it goes in helps it dissolve faster and keeps the boil short, which protects that bright colour.

Cooking the Jam

Put the damsons and water into the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the skins have split and the fruit is soft. Remove the stones, then return the pulp to the pan.

Add the warmed sugar and the lemon juice. Stir over a low heat until every grain has dissolved — draw the spoon across the base of the pan and listen; if you can still feel grit, keep stirring. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, turn up the heat and boil hard for 15 to 20 minutes. Damsons are high in pectin, so this stage is quick. Long boiling dulls the colour to a muddy brown, so err on the side of less.

Testing for a Set and Potting Up

Before you start, put two or three saucers in the freezer. When the jam has boiled for around 12 minutes, drop a teaspoonful onto a cold saucer, leave it for a minute, then push it with your finger. If the surface wrinkles, you have a set. A thermometer should read 104–105°C. You can also watch for the flake test: the last drips from the spoon should fall in a sheet rather than a stream.

Skim off any scum with a slotted spoon, then let the jam settle for five minutes. Pot it into hot, sterilised jars, filling to within 5mm of the rim. Seal immediately with new lids, or use a wax disc and cellophane cover secured with a rubber band. Label once cool.

Variations and Storage

Damsons take kindly to a little embellishment. A cinnamon stick or a star anise dropped into the pan adds warmth; a splash of gin stirred in at potting time gives a grown-up kick. For a softer, lighter jam, replace a third of the damsons with peeled Bramley apples, which also stretch the harvest further.

Cooked longer and with less sugar, the same fruit makes a sliceable damson cheese to serve with cheese and oatcakes. And the stones need not be wasted — steep them with the fruit in gin for a few months for a ruby liqueur that beats most commercial sloe gins.

Stored in a cool, dark cupboard, your jars will keep for at least twelve months. Look out for mould on the surface, which means the jar or lid was not properly clean, or a loose seal. A runny jam can be reboiled with a squeeze more lemon juice; one that has set like concrete simply needs a little water and a brief reboil. Either way, you will have learned something, and next autumn's hedgerow will be waiting.