A longing for a favorite late-summer treat led to Moore writing instructor Sarah Gothie’s first book.
“When I was growing up, my grandmother would make damson jam every fall for my grandfather because his grandmother and mother had made it,” Gothie said. “She stopped making it when he passed, so for 15 years there was no damson jam.”
Gothie took up the challenge of making the jam, and from that labor of love came her book, Damsons: An Ancient Fruit in the Modern Kitchen.
And now you may be asking, as many people do – what is a damson?
“A damson is a very small, very tart, but a very exquisitely flavored type of plum,” Gothie explained. Her nostalgia led her to order damsons from a farm in Michigan so she could make the family recipe.
“We were so excited because we hadn’t tasted this flavor for so long,” she said.
A couple of years after that, she planted damson trees at her home so she could have her own supply.
During dissertation research in North West England, she found herself in a damson-growing region in the Lake District. She met some growers that year, and connected with even more on a subsequent visit.
“It became clear at some point that I should write about damsons in England,” she said. “I had to wait until my dissertation was finished, then I had the time.”
JAM, GIN, PASTA SAUCE
Damson trees were brought to the North America by colonists from England. Gothie said the fruit is named for the ancient city of Damascus, where it’s thought to have first been cultivated. It’s believed the plum made its way to England by way of the Romans, though some evidence suggests it may have derived from the sloe, another small plum species that dates, in England, to at least the Middle Pleistocene.
“For years, people would say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so obsessed with damsons, you should write a book about them,’” Gothie said. “It’s nice to write about something you really care about. It’s something I try to impart to my students – choose a topic you care about and the work will seem like pleasure.”
Gothie used 100 pounds of damsons to test the 60 recipes for her book. Included are historical recipes dating back as far as the first cookbook printed in English, as well as recipes Gothie developed to show the versatility of the damson beyond jam and gin, such as damson desserts, condiments, and even pasta sauce.
“I trace the history of the fruit and talk about how the popularity of it diminished in the 20th century,” she said. “A renaissance is happening in England right now. They are interested in preserving the heritage of the damson.”
SPREADING THE LOVE
The fruit’s small size and brittle branches make it difficult to harvest commercially, making it hard to find.
“There’s a two week window in mid-August to early September when they are available,” she said. “You might seem them at a farmer’s market.” She suggests calling orchards that grow plums. Gothie’s trees are still young and don’t produce a lot of fruit yet. She buys damsons from a farm in Virginia.
Gothie has participated in recipe-tasting workshops and book signings in Shropshire and the Lake District in England. Her hope is to bring more attention to the fruit and give people opportunities to explore different uses for it.
“I’d like to get people to plant a tree or buy damsons or cook with damsons,” she said. “Experience them, not just read about them in an academic way."
“Another thing that’s so special about them and the reason we need to learn about them and celebrate them is that other fruits and vegetables have faded into obscurity,” she said. “As we’ve gotten more industrialized and commercial, any opportunity to be aware of our heritage is something we shouldn’t take for granted.”
