What is "damassine"

Damassine ( eau de vie) is a liqueur produced by distillation of the damson plum, called Damassine in French.

According to local tradition, the Crusaders or Bernard de Clairvaux brought seeds for the Damassinier plant back from the Orient (hence its name originating from Damascus “fr Damas”). The Romans might have already known the fruit, cited in the Duhamel de Monceau encyclopaedia. In the Jura area, the first citation dates back to a written reference regarding a “Grandfontaine” plantation in 1791.