Damson Fool

I had some damson plums years ago, when an old friend of my nana gave me some to make into jam with the blackberries I'd just picked . Raw they were tart and nothing special, cooked they were rich and incredibly yummy. The damson is a small plum, pretty much impossible to stone, my nana's friend said to sieve out the stones and stalks once they were cooked which worked relatively well (I'm not sure how I'd do this on a large scale).

So years later when deciding what fruit trees to plant, I had to put in a damson as I've never seen them available anywhere as fruit. Trying to maximise the types of fruit in my backyard, I've espaliered it together with other fruit trees along the fence. So that's what the wire is in my dodgy photo. With this year's crop I've made damson gin (obviously not to share with the small girl) and damson fool.

There's not really much of a recipe to making a fool. Stew plums with enough sugar to not be too tart. Sieve or pick out stones from stewed fruit. Puree the fruit if you didn't sieve it. Chill. Mix with whipped cream to taste. Damson are strongly flavoured so 50/50 proportion wouldn't be too much. Then try to eat it slowly.