Damson
Prunus domestica subsp. insititia · Stone fruit
Top 10 pairings
The Damson is a small, oval, dark blue-purple plum dusted with a chalky blue bloom, prized not for raw eating but for cooking. Its green-yellow flesh is sharply tart and tannic — too astringent to enjoy out of hand — yet that very sourness is what makes its jam, cheese, gin and pies so deep and distinctive.
Picking a good onedrag
Hard and tartSoft and winey
Just ripeBuy itIt gives at the tip but slices clean off the stone. Bake it in tarts, grill the halves or roast it.
Skin and bloomDeep even colour, bloom intact
FleshSprings at the tip, no dents
Stem hollowColour runs into the hollow
SmellFaintly sweet up close
Reading a just ripe one. Move the slider and the rest of this page — nutrition, pairings — updates with it. These cues are Plum's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
94%
Edible part
66 g · stone out, skin on
70 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.
90-95%
Humidity
Loose, single layer
Airflow