Continuing on the Persian theme – ergo my recent recipe for a beetroot borani – a fruit that we may consider as being quintessentially English is in fact a green-fruited wild plum from Iran which the British horticultural writer Anna Pavord referred to as ‘most ambrosial of all tree fruit’. I concur, greengages were my mother’s favourite and they are mine. However, I recently bought a batch that weren’t quite ripe so I decided to make some kind of conserve, an exotic spoon sweet to remind me of these golden late summer days later on in the year when nature is sleeping.

Makes x4 290ml jars

Ingredients

800g greengages, ideally slightly unripe
1 lemon
600g unrefined golden caster sugar
Orange blossom water (optional)

How I make it

Place a saucer in the freezer (you’ll be using this to check whether the jam has reached setting point). 

Remove any stalks and the stones from the fruit. Place them in a medium heavy-bottomed pan and, using a speed peeler, take off four strips of zest from the lemon. Add to the pan with 200ml of water and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and allow the fruit to simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. 

In the meantime, sterilise the jars by placing them in an oven heated to 160C fan for five minutes. Switch off the oven and leave the jars in until your jam is ready.

Remove the lemon zest from the pan and stir in the sugar, the juice of half of the lemon and a scant splash of orange blossom water (if using). Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Cook for 10 mins stirring often to ensure it doesn’t catch.

Then take the saucer out of the freezer and spread a teaspoon of jam over it. Let it sit for a minute before pushing your finger through the liquid. If it starts to wrinkle, the jam is ready. If not, return to the boil and check again after a couple more minutes. That should do it but, if not, continue the process until the jam has reached setting point (the equivalent of 105C on a culinary thermometer).

Allow to cool a little, then carefully ladle the jam into sterilised jars and allow to cool completely before sealing. Store in a cool dark space.