Stewed damsons

stewed damsons

I think one of the best things to do with damsons is to keep it simple and stew them with sugar. I tend to cook them straight from frozen, they just need a little bit longer in the oven.  It’s hard to beat them when they are served with custard.  My girls love to mix the damson juice with the custard to make a vivid pink pudding.  We each save all the damson stones and then see who we are going to marry by counting them saying “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief’ and then we count them again to see how we are going to travel to church on the wedding day “coach, carriage, wheelbarrow, muck cart”. It’s daft but it has to be done.

It’s hard to give precise measurements here because it will depend on how tart or sweet you like your damsons.  I like mine to taste tart and then be sweetened by the custard.

Serves 4

300g (10oz) frozen damsons
5 dessertspoons demerara sugar

Put the damsons and sugar into an ovenproof bowl and bake at 180°c for 20 minutes until the damsons are soft and have begun to burst out of their skins.

Serve warm with plenty of warm custard.

damsons and custard

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11 thoughts on “Stewed damsons”

    1. Hi Angela,
      You can spread them on a tray and freeze them, then bag them, or do what I more often do which is simply place in freezer bags and place in the freezer and they seem to do absolutely fine that way too.
      Good luck, I hope you have a good bounty.
      Kath

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  2. Dear Kath,

    I have lots and lots of damsons i would like to freeze them so i can make crumbles and fools in the winter. Is it better to stew them first, then take out the stones, then freeze them. How exactly do I stew them? When is best time to remove stones. i have an Aga. I like them tart, what is the best quantity of sugar to damsons.

    Best wishes,

    sara walsh

    1. Hi Sara,
      I don’t stew my damsons before freezing them. I wash them, dry them and weigh them into 500g or 1kg then bag them and pop them in the freezer. Then when I want to stew them I just place the amount I want in an oven proof dish pour over about five dessertspoons of sugar (this makes them quite tart) and then pop them in the baking oven of my Aga for about 20 minutes. They cook from frozen. I don’t bother taking the stones out, we eat around them and then spit them out and play a daft game of tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor. I would also use them from frozen with a crumble topping – by the time the crumble is cooked so are the damsons. Enjoy, they are such a treat.
      Kath

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