My Autumn Damson Harvest

For me, damsons always signal the arrival of autumn. This year, after the amazing summer we have just had, our fruit trees were bursting with damsons.  The harvest has been one of our best yet.

I love the idea of preserving fruit for the winter months and after a few hours in the kitchen, we now have a plentiful supply of damson jam and spicy damson chutney in the pantry. It would be lovely if I could justify all that fruit contributing to our Five A Day, but with the amount of sugar involved in the preserves, I could not honestly view them as health food. However, making your own food, from produce grown in your own garden, is very special indeed.