If you have more raspberries than you want to eat, you can make them into a variety of preserves – Raspberry Vinagrette, Raspberry Sauce, Raspberry Compote and Raspberry Jam.

Raspberry Sauce has less sugar and is more liquid than the Compote, whilst the Jam has more sugar, which acts as a preservative, and is denser.

Ingredients: makes about 250ml (8 oz)

2 punnets (about 340g) fresh raspberries

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Method:

Place the raspberries, sugar & water in a stainless steel saucepan.

• Bring to the boil, add the lemon juice.

Lower the heat enough to ensure that the mixture is still boiling.

• Give it a stir every now and again, just to make sure it is not burnt. The boiling helps to thicken the sauce, so you don’t want to stop that process.
• When the sauce has thickened to the consistency that you like, turn the heat off.

• Skim the layers of ‘bubble clusters’ off the top of the compote.
• Pour hot contents into a ‘sterilised’ jar and close the lid.

Note: A quick way to sterilised a clean glass jar is to fill the jar up to the halfway mark (estimate), stick it into a microwave and zap for 1 minute on HIGH. Be careful when you remove it, as it will be HOT. Pour the hot water away before use.