Damson Jam With Almond

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?

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.

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.

See our other chocolate recipe videos here:

Print