Cheesy Damsons???

I do think it is nice when I actually make something quite interesting culinary-wise with the fruit and veg grown lovingly grown in the garden, it is particularly nice when it is with fruit and veg that either appears by its own accord (and no I'm not referring to Deadly Nightshade Pie) or that just exists because I haven't got around to getting rid of it. Enter the lowly damson.

In the garden we have a tree totally laden with them and some are actually still edible whilst the rest are rapidly mouldering (a word?) away to the joy of the wasps who seem to particularly like the goo that oozes from them. I was thinking about damson jam, damson gin (more on damsons and booze in a later post), damson crumble perhaps but no I plumped for that well-known delicacy damson cheese!! Apparently quince cheese or membrillo is well known but damson cheese seems to be more a rarity although when I googled it recipes appeared everywhere!! So is damson cheese cheese? No, couldn't be far from it. The only similarity is that it can be sliced and so can cheese but then so can bread and it's not called damson bread is it!!
I digress - I picked 2 kg of damsons from said tree in the garden and put them in a big pan with 4tblsp of water to simmer. After only ten minutes and a few times bashing with a wooden spoon they had reduced to a perfect mush.







This perfect mush was then pushed through a sieve to get all the gooey puree and juice out - this took ages as I did it bit by bit to make sure I got as much goo as possible.

For every 500ml of goo I added 350gm sugar and returned to the pan. I simmered it gently to get the sugar to dissolve and then let it continue to simmer (making sure the mixture does not stick to the bottom) until I could make sticky goo part on the bottom of the pan. As someone in another post has commented this does not have to be a Moses' parting of the seas i.e. it doesn't have to stay parted just leave a momentary channel.




I placed it into two flat containers from the indian restaurant and left to cool; after a night in the fridge it is rock solid and delicious - note the tester's evidence. YUM!!!

Can't wait to eat it on hot buttered toast (thick and white of course), with roast lamb instead of redcurrant jelly and with cheese - won't I look posh when I bring this out on a cheese board!!!