High Dumpsey Dearie Jam
Whilst delving into my culinary library for historic local
creations, I came upon a very strangely named jam, apparently
coined by a Worcestershire farmer's wife around 120 years
ago.
It was a thrifty way of using up odds and ends of fruit and was
often incorporated into Jam roly-poly.
Here is the original farmer's wife recipe-
(However, I find that by adding a cinnamon stick and a ½ tsp. of
ground cloves gives this jam the edge!)
Ingredients to make 7-8lb of jam
2lb / 900g of cooking apples peeled, cored and sliced
2lb/ 900g pears, peeled, cored and sliced
2lb/ 900g plums stoned and halved
water
Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
Bruised root of dried ginger
4 ½lb/ 2kg sugar
1) Place all the fruit in a large, heavy based pan and add just
enough water to cover the base. Simmer until the fruit is tender.
This will take 30-35 minutes.
2) Remove from heat and add the sugar, stirring until
dissolved.
3) Add the juice and grated rind of the lemon and ginger root tied
in a muslin bag
4) Bring to the boil and cook rapidly until the setting point of
the jam is reached, after about 15 minutes.
5) Then pot and seal the jam.
