Elizabeth Raffald’s 1769 Recipe for ‘Damson Dumplins’
In which a very tasty-sounding C18th damson pudding recipe leads to much dumplin-themed discussion.
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Gallery: Fruit Blossom, Early Spring 2026 Edition
Early blossom has been hit hard by a cold snap around these parts, but not before I snapped a few photos.
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Fruit Harvest Highlights – Summer 2025 Edition
2025 has been an incredible year for all types of fruit. Here’s part one of my harvest highlights.
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A Late-C14th Recipe for ‘Tart de Brymlent’
Here’s a recipe from the Fourme of Cury, for a pie with a filling that might sound a little unusual to modern culinary sensibilities.
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John Farley’s 1783 Recipe for ‘Prune Pudding’
Here’s a typically gnomic C18th recipe for a boiled plum pudding, which I’m sure would be very tasty, if you can get it to work…
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Gervase Markham’s 1623 Recipe for ‘A Pruen Tart’
This seventeenth century recipe for damson tarts sounds absolutely delicious. I think I’ll be giving this one a go.
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Orchard Visit: Airfield Estate, Dundrum, Dublin
This 38-acre working farm and education centre offers a great many mature trees, vines and more for the fruit enthusiast to enjoy.
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Harvest 2022 – Top Fruit from the Allotment Orchard
Here are the extended highlights of this year’s harvest of apples, pears, quinces, plums and damsons. Top fruit galore!
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Sir Hugh Plat’s 1636 Recipe for ‘Marmelade of Quinces or Damsons’
This C17th recipe is for two types of marmelade – white or ordinary – depending on when you add the sugar to the fruit.
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Frederick Nutt’s 1790 Recipe for, and My Version of, ‘Damson Ice Cream’
In which an 18th century recipe for damson ice cream and some advice from Twitter inspires me to make my own delightful damson dessert.
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Frederick Nutt’s 1790 Recipe for ‘Damsons, Wet’ and ‘Damsons, Dried’
Here are two methods for preserving the bounty of your damson harvest, from Frederick Nutt’s C18th volume of confectionary cookery.
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Book Notes: Damsons, by Sarah Conrad Gothie
A short but hugely informative book packed with juicy recipes and damson facts; a must-read for any damson fan.
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Now Collecting Historical Orchard Recipes
I’ve started putting together an index page of the archive recipes that I’m posting on the site.
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Au Revoir to Pear, Plum and Damson Blossom?
Two nights of bad weather after early blossom has bloomed is bad news, but hopefully not the end of this year’s crop.
