After I published ‘Homer Damson Blossom Sunday’ I received several questions regarding who used all those Damsons and I realised how very different our world was in the 1940’s in Britain, compared with the world we live in now. Back then everything was used and “Waste not, want not, pick it up and eat it” was almost a religion!
Today, much is made of the goal to eat food which has been grown /raised within 100 miles of home. Back then virtually all our vegetables, fruit, dairy products and meat were produced within 20 miles of our village. Such luxuries as peaches and pineapple only came in cans purchased with coupons from our Ration Books and reserved for special occasions; I was 12 years old before I tasted banana, and we were lucky to get one orange a year in our Christmas Stocking!
All produce was precious and provided a major part of any Small Holder’s income. Nothing was allowed to go to waste. After any private customers were satisfied the rest of the fruit crop was picked and taken to the weekly produce markets in either Bridgnorth or Shrewsbury. Mr. Higgs and the Misses Perry (our Greengrocers) bought enough for their own needs directly from their favourite Small Holder.
In addition, Mr. Higgs took large quantities on consignment to the Wolverhampton market where he went to buy produce twice a week. The latter larger market was the source of any products not available locally such as English cucumbers (sold by the half) and ‘mustard and cress’. Sometimes in the Springtime there would be watercress, daffodils from Cornwall and later still Cornish early tomatoes. But the stock in trade of all Greengrocers; potatoes, turnips, swedes, carrots, onions and cabbage, were all produced locally and anyone with even a small garden produced and preserved as much as possible for themselves.
We had a large garden, surrounded with fruit trees, blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes, a huge rhubarb bed, a line of raspberry canes and a high trellis ‘wall’ along the back which was covered with loganberries. When I was very young, I used to look at the small access gap in the middle of that huge row and think it was where Adam hid after he had eaten the forbidden fruit! Since we were always in trouble for picking and eating under-ripe fruit of all kinds, I felt great sympathy for his plight!
We had no refrigeration and preserving food for the winter months was essential. The task occupied every housewife throughout the Summer and Fall season. Hens are usually prolific layers in Springtime which means that egg prices fall to a barely break-even price. Every Spring Mum would fill a large earthenware basin with ‘Waterglass’ and add fresh eggs daily until it was filled to the brim. With the liquid totally covering the eggs they would keep perfectly for months.
Another large earthenware pot was filled with sliced beans interspersed with coarse salt. Fresh layers were added each day as the beans ripened. They were a favourite Sunday Dinner vegetable and required only soaking overnight in clear water to remove the salt before cooking. It seems strange today when salt is thought to be the cause of so many of our ailments that for centuries it was essential for preserving foodstuffs of all kinds.
By the end of the summer our pantry shelves were lined with bottled fruit of all types, but the rhubarb, plums, greengages and damsons were favourites since they were sufficiently acidic to be very easily preserved in water. During the winter months we ate them stewed, made into pies, as the base for a fruit crumble and of course everything was served with Bird’s custard and sweetened with saccharin! Any sugar ration was reserved for jam making where it is an essential ingredient.
Damsons are clingstone and rather tart so not as good as plums for eating raw! No effort was ever made to remove the stones before bottling! Served stewed or in pies, those stones provided us children with the absorbing task of lining them up around our plate and reciting “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, Rich Man, Poor man, Beggarman, Thief!” The answer decided our future husband or wife, so we counted very carefully when requesting second helpings, to ensure we ended up with the right number of stones!
Damson jam and pickled damsons were always my favourites with their rich tangy taste, but Mum never made Damson wine. Back then many country folks made Dandelion, Elderflower and Elderberry wine for their own consumption. Visitors were generally pretty chary when such drinks were offered as their potency could vary wildly!
Nevertheless, despite all the stories and tall tales one hears, I never personally heard of anyone dying from botulism or food poisoning so traditional preserving must have been doing something right!