World War Two. Plum Jam From Taunton, Somerset

[Marmalady]

How about High Dumpsie Dearie Jam -- made from Plums, pears & apples with a touch of ginger?

[silaswall]

The combination of apples and pears would give it a very distinctive flavour. Thank you.

[SkySteve]

My family recipe handed down is simply damsons and caster sugar, no need for pectin etc.
The modern method uses a microwave.  Remove the stalks, wash and cook about 90 fruits on full for five minutes in a large bowl.
This bursts the damsons and allows the stones to be easily removed (unless you want to fish them out of the finished jam).
Add an equal weight of caster sugar, stir and cook on full for about 20 minutes.
Transfer to clean jars.  The skins make it very satisfying.

[Greensleeves]

I wonder if the jam was made from bullaces, which according to google, grow in the Taunton area.  My Suffolk granny used to make bullace jam and I always thought it was made from plums.  "Wild plums", I was told, but it turns out that bullaces are a kind of damson,  and these were really popular for making 'plum jam' in Suffolk for - as they say - donkeys' years.

[Treetotal]

As it was war time and some ingredients would be rationed, it might be worthwhile googling WW2 war time jam recipes, as mentioned, maybe made by the WI.
Carol

[Erato]

Absolutely the BEST plum jam/jelly is made from wild beach plums [Prunus maritima] but it's hard to find even in New England where beach plums are native but restricted to sand dunes along the shore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_maritima
https://newengland.com/today/food/side-dishes/pickles-preserves/beach-plum-jam-2/

[Johnf04]

Nothing to do with Taunton, or plums - my dad (a child of the depression and WW11) once made a batch of "raspberry" jam - he got a large number of ripe tomatoes from somewhere, and made "raspberry jam" by adding sugar and raspberry cordial concentrate. Oddly, it tasted rather like raspberry jam, but the pips were a bit large.

[ankerdine]

How about High Dumpsie Dearie Jam -- made from Plums, pears & apples with a touch of ginger?

That really does sound intriguing  and I may try it out.

My OH, recently having reached a certain age, absolutely loves home-made plum jam so we search it out at farmer's markets, etc. We've recently purchased a specific plum jam, Blaisdon Plum Jam, from a small-holding in Worcestershire which is/was delicious (just looked at the jar and it's nearly empty). Smells and tastes seem to remind us of the past more than other senses, I think.

Mairmalady, have you ever made plum jam with those tough skinned imported red plums at this time of year?

Judy

[silaswall]

Thank you. I only by chance noticed that this thread has been picked again. I did spend sometime looking at war time recipes. I made some plum jam as Christmas presents.  Unfortunately my uncle has been unwell so I have yet to receive the verdict!