We went to bazaar (local farmer’s market) with a friend yesterday and we bought lots of things as usual. I always prefer going to bazaar with a friend. We first walk through the bazaar from its start to the end to have a look at all foods there. Meanwhile, we have the chance of comparing their prices. You may find a cheaper of the same vegetable or fruit in a different place of the bazaar, so you shouldn’t buy something from the first vendor you see.
After checking out lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, we didn’t want to waste any more time and decided to make damson jam. I love to eat these plums fresh. What I like about them most is that they are not so sweet and soft. Besides, their lovely color purple is enough to catch my eyes. I don’t know why but any food in purple color is always on the top of my favorites. I think doctors also agree on this as they say that vegetables and fruits in purple color have several benefits. They say that these are antioxidant, so they prevent many serious diseases like cancer.I knew that color purple had something magical!
These cute plums have a dusty texture, and no matter how long you wash, you can’t remove it. Actually, it’s not dust, but it’s their natural matte texture. Before washing these well, I rubbed them with a piece of cloth to get them ready to pose at my camera. Although they are purple outside, their inside has a greenish color, and I think that makes these damsons acidulous. Its stone has pointed ends, but I love to keep it in my mouth for some seconds as I feel still the same flavor of the plum itself on its stone. The stone of these plums is brown, but they are thinly surrounded with a color in between red and purple. That may be the reason why I don’t want to leave it as soon as I finish eating the fruit.
When I made the jam, I saw that the color became more and more bright, and of course more attractive! I think this will be my last jam before Winter. Did I mention I made black mulberry jam, yellow cherry jam and strawberry jam apart from this? Don’t you think we’re ready for Winter now? People prepare their jams in Summer and Fall here, and these jams are one of the main foods at breakfast especially in Winter. You know we need more sugar during cold times to have energy and warm our body, so there is always a kind of jam at a Turkish breakfast in Winter.
We can also decorate our cakes with this bright colored damson jam.
I wanted to make a different tweast for this jam, so I added almonds in it. I think they made a perfect combination. Look at that almond lying between two beautiful crescent damsons in the first picture. Doesn’t it look overjoyed?
Murdum Erigi Receli
Ingredients
- 1kg damson
- 750g sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- A handful of almonds
- A cup of hot water
Before preparing the jam, soak the almonds in hot water and wait it until you finish with the jam.
After washing the damsons, slice them in crescent shape and throw their stones away. Put half of the sliced damsons in a pot and pour half of the sugar on them. Then put the rest of the damsons and pour the rest of the sugar. Cover the pot and wait it for 8 hours. We don’t need to add water in this way as the damsons release their juice and this will be enough for our jam. You may do this step overnight.
After the waiting time, put the pot on fire and stir it occasionaly. Take the white froth with the help of a ladle. That froth may cause our jam to have a bad taste or to go bad in a short time, so it’s very important to remove them from the pot while boiling. Boil the jam until it reaches the right consistency. But how do you understand this ‘right consistency’?
There are two ways to understand the right consistency of jam. The first way is mom’s version. The second is my mother-in-law’s. I tried both of them and they work quite perfect. You can use these methods for any kind of jam.
1- After boiling the jam, you’ll see it gets a bit thicker. With the help of a spoon, drop it on a plate. If the jam drop doesn’t flow easily when you bend the plate, your jam has the right consistency.
2- You need a glass of water for this. Drop the jam into the water. If the drop of the jam reaches at the bottom of the glass without distorting in the water, your jam has the right consistency.
When you understand it has the right consistency (you know what I mean now), squeeze the lemon and boil it for a few minutes. After the lemon juice, do not boil it more, or your jam gets so dark in color. Take it from fire and start to prepare the almonds.
Peel the almonds waiting in hot water. You’ll see it’s so easy to peel them with the help of this hot water. Put the peeled almonds on a paper towel and dry them. Then add them into the jam, stir. Let it cool together. Then put them in jars.
What should you do to keep your jam longer?
- Keep the jars in a dry place away from sunlight. They can stay there for months without going bad.
- The jar and its lid must be good. They shouldn’t let any air inside. However, if you realize something bad on top of the jam, do not worry. Throw that part away and put the jar in refrigerator.
- The spoon you’re using to take jam from the jar must be dry. Any drop of water mildews your jam.
Hope these are helpful for you.
I would like to thank to Sophie from sophiesfoodiefiles as she honored me with the lovely Lemonade award. If you haven’t visited her blog yet, go check it. She combines wonderful ingredients to make unique dishes.
20 Comments on "Damson Jam With Almond"
The jam looks gorgeous. Unfortunately, we don’t have these kind of plums. We only have the imported ones from the States. But this is a must try jam that I need to do. Thanks for this wonderful recipe.
That Damson jam really look delicious Zerrin.
Salam
Hmmmmmmm your jam looks so delicious, I love your cuisine , and the way tou introduce your articles, you always give the reader a panoramic view of turkish life.
Thanks for sharing your recipe
kisses
Touria
Wonderful and great images too!
So delicious and they’re beautiful plums but I haven’t there this type here..anyway this jam is perfect for breakfast
Congrats for your award!
Cheers!
Gera
This looks delicious. I’ve never seen damsons for sale around here, but I’ll keep my eyes open for them!
This jam looks lovely Zerrin. I like your idea of using it on cake, it would be wonderful as a filling. Congrats on your award!
Those plums are so pretty, they look like gem stones! Your jame is also gorgeous and sounds so delicious!
This looks both pretty and luscious. We have a similar looking plum here, called Italian or prune plums and I am sure they will work very well.
Gorgeous plums and I love this jam with almonds! Plums and almonds are my recent favorite flavor combination, yum!
Beautiful plums! The jam with almonds looks wonderful.
I adore plums & your jam is looking so tasty!! I love the addtion of the almonds!
A must make!! I am glad that you enjoyed your lemonade award!
Nice photo
Thank you all for your valuable comments.
Didn’t know about these plums – thanks for sharing!
Zerrin this looks gorgeous! I got loads of plums yesterday to make some jam or fruit butter.. I don’t see the damson plums here, just the regular black & red ones. adding almonds is neat. I have to push myself up & get that jam going in my kitchen.
I found your site while looking for a Turkish recipe for leeks.
You are now bookmarked for many reasons:
#1- the recipes make me hungry just reading them!
#2- the pictures make me want to cook them RIGHT NOW!
#3- I love Turkish cooking – so simple & fresh & full of good things : 9
#4- a very dear friend is Turkish and reading your blog makes me feel as if she is talking to me. She is far away now – in Manila! – and I miss her cooking for me and hearing her voice.
When we were in Ireland we saw Damsom jam, but you could not tell what Damson was and the ingredients just said Damson, not damson plums. Now I know and I have to saw, I wish I had had room in my luggage to bring a jar home, but I am now lucky enough to be able to make some myself with this incredible recipe.
I wish I could get hands on some Damsons – totally missed the season. I got a few months ago, but haven’t seen any in England since August. All the Damson jams here have the pits still in them. Your jam is an amazing color and lovely pics.
Looks asthough it would taste great. I’ve made Damson Jam for many years. The stones contain a lovely mazapan flavoured bitter almond, but if you boil them for too long, to extract the flavour, you also get a oakey woodiness that hangs around as an aftertaste; now adding your own almonds- that’s got to be good!