mmmm damsons

[old tree man]

found these while on a fungi forage this morning mmmmmm jam and crumble

[Millymollymandy]

Totally confused now. I thought those were just red plums?

My damsons are tiny, about 1cm across and black skinned with green flesh inside. Like these:

http://www.google.fr/images?hl=fr&q=dam ... CCkQsAQwAA

But anyway enjoy your plums and look out for the grubs!

Edit: mine are exactly like these

http://www.jblean.org/USERIMAGES/Damsons%20DSCN0042.JPG

[old tree man]

Hi MMM these are quite tart and the ones i left on the tree are very purpley !!! you could well be right ther certainly not as sweet as wild plums should be, but down the lane there are some sloes as well i wonder if they cross pollinated anyhow they will be in a crumble and jam by tonight

[Millymollymandy]

I've been eating my damsons just as plums this year, I think some years they ripen sweeter than others. I do have to cut into them to check for wildlife first though. Hope your crumble was good.

[old tree man]

we got five crumbles and four pots of jam mmmmm tastes great

[Millymollymandy]

Ooh piggies I hope some of those crumbles are going in the freezer!

[old tree man]

They were untill my kids turned up now we have 2 left

[Millymollymandy]

At least you have kids who like to eat good homemade food not junk food so I suppose you can be grateful for one thing!

Your postings got me thinking and I decided to pick all the rest of my damsons to make some jam today, I've only got 1.3kg total but it should make a few jars. Never made damson jam before - usually I don't have enough and make them into chutney with other things but OH has only just started on last year's damson chutney ..... having only just finished eating the previous chutney from about 06.

[hmk]

Damson jam is delicious, and there's always damson gin....

I've just been given a bag of damsons, I think I might have a go at bottling some. (I was brave and tried raspberries earlier in the year )

HMK

[old tree man]

Thats great MMM you can't beat home made jam, wow you still got stuff from 06 were lucky if i lasts to next season , fortunatly hmk with working in forestry all my life my kids were brought up on home made stuff, mind you one of them lives on fast food as do his children and if it is'nt cooked (or should i say manufactured) they wont eat it, and when i tell them that there are always getting colds and sniffles, that is the reason, they wont have it even when the obvious is there, thier argument is ....all that hard work when you can get someone else to do it for you.... i give up , but when i take the granchildren forageing they absolutly thrive on it

[Millymollymandy]

Well I'm really pleased as I got 6 1/2 jars from 1.26 kilos of damsons! Wasn't expecting that much to be honest, now I can give some to my mum who was recently reminiscing about 'dam(n) jam' that her mum and granny used to make!

[ADG]

the original pick is of bullaces a the nearest cousin of the damson