Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Damson along with all the Damson containing recipes presented on this site, with 21 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Damson as a major wild food ingredient.

The damson (Prunus domestica subsp. insititia, or sometimes Prunus insititia) also known as the Damson Plum and, archaically, the damascene plum (ie from Damascus) is an edible drupaceous fruit, a subspecies of the plum tree. Varieties of insititia are found across Europe, but the name "damson" is derived from and most commonly applied to forms which are found in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the damson plum is a cultivated plum that is considered a subspecies of Prunus insititia (just as Britain's true native plum, the Bullace is) but with an oval fruit shape (the bullace is spherical). Damsons are native to southwestern Asia and were introduced to Britain. But they are now so common in gardens and in hedgerows that many believe them to be a native species.

Damsons are relatively small plums with a distinctive, somewhat astringent taste, and are widely used for culinary purposes, particularly in fruit preserves. The name damson derives from the earlier term "damascene", and ultimately from the Latin prunum damascenum, 'plum of Damascus'. One commonly stated theory is that damsons were first cultivated in antiquity in the area around the ancient city of Damascus, capital of modern-day Syria, and were introduced into England by the Romans. The historical link between the Roman-era damascenum and the north and west European damson is rather tenuous despite the adoption of the older name, particularly as the damascenum described by the Roman authors has more of the character of a sweet dessert plum. Nonetheless, remnants of damsons are sometimes found during archaeological digs of ancient Roman camps across England, and they have clearly been cultivated, and consumed, for centuries. Damson stones have been found in the fosse at the Hungate, York, and dated to the late period of Anglo-Saxon England.

The exact origin of Prunus domestica subsp. insititia is still extremely debatable: it is often thought to have arisen in wild crosses, possibly in Asia Minor, between the sloe, Prunus spinosa, and Prunus cerasifera, the cherry plum. Despite this, tests on cherry plums and damsons have indicated that it is possible that the damson developed directly from forms of sloe, perhaps via the round-fruited varieties known as bullaces, and that the cherry plum did not play a role in its parentage. Insititia plums of various sorts, such as the German Krieche or Dutch kroosjes, occur across Europe and the word 'damson' is sometimes used to refer to them in English, but many of the English varieties from which the name "damson" was originally taken have both a different typical flavour and pear-shaped (pyriform) appearance compared with continental forms.

The main characteristic of the damson is its distinctive rich flavour; unlike other plums it is both high in sugars and highly astringent. The fruit of the damson can also be identified by its shape, which is usually ovoid and slightly pointed at one end, or pyriform; its smooth-textured yellow-green flesh; and its skin, which ranges from dark blue to indigo to near-black depending on the variety (other types of Prunus domestica can have purple, yellow or red skin). Most damsons are of the "clingstone" type, where the flesh adheres to the stone. The damson is broadly similar to the semi-wild bullace, also classified as ssp. insititia, which is a smaller but invariably round plum with purple or yellowish-green skin. Damsons generally have a deeply furrowed stone, unlike bullaces, and unlike prunes cannot be successfully dried.

The tree blossoms with small, white flowers in early April in the Northern hemisphere and fruit is harvested from late August to September or October, depending on the cultivar. The skin of the damson can have a very tart flavour, particularly when unripe (the term "damson" is often used to describe red wines with rich yet acidic plummy flavours). The fruit is therefore most often used for cooking, and is commercially grown for preparation in jam and other fruit preserves. Some varieties of damson, however, such as 'Merryweather', are sweet enough to eat directly from the tree, and most are palatable raw if allowed to fully ripen. They can also be pickled, canned, or otherwise preserved. The Luxembourg speciality quetschentaart is a fruit pie made with insititia plums. Because damson stones or seeds are difficult to separate from the flesh, preserves are often made from whole fruit. Some cooks then remove the stones, but others, either in order not to lose any of the pulp or because they believe the flavour is better, leave the seeds in the final product. In addition to using damson preserves as one uses any jam, some people serve it with roasted or braised meat dishes just as they might serve cranberry sauce with roasted fowl.

Damson gin is made in a similar manner to sloe gin, although less sugar is necessary as the damsons are sweeter than sloes. Insititia varieties similar to damsons are used to make slivovitz, a distilled plum spirit made in Slavic countries. Damson wine was once common in England; a 19th-century reference said that: 'good damson wine is, perhaps, the nearest approach to good port that we have in England. No currant wine can equal it.'

References:

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