Soft set oven cooked raspberry jam

Mentioned in my last post, making raspberry jam in the oven is a lovely way to preserve raspberries. It's incredibly simple and gentle cooking method doesn't destroy the characteristics of the fruit and the end result is very soft set. There are numerous versions of Elizabeth David's original idea but in essence you place the fruit in one tray, the sugar in another and heat for 20 minutes in a moderate oven (190°c).

Once the fruit and sugar are really hot, the two must be brought together and then potted up. I use two cast iron roasting dishes, pour the sugar into the fruit, and give it a good stir to help dissolve the sugar crystals. Set the jars on a cloth, don some good long oven gloves and pour it in.

Some recipes suggest the juice of a lemon or a little liquor, but for me the simplicity of the fruit is the delight and it sets as much as I want it to. Due to the lack of boiling, this is not a store cupboard jam. It should be eaten before the New Year and perhaps kept in the fridge if you have a warm kitchen. I make sure the jars and lids are scrupulously clean and hot, don't skimp on the sugar and ban anyone from sticking a buttery knife into it - I have never had a mouldy batch yet.

One of my first jobs when we moved to a house with a larger garden last year was to plant raspberry canes. I chose a mixture of summer and autumn fruiting varieties including Glen Ample, Tulameen, Cascade Delight, Tadmor, Autumn Bliss and Polka. I should have picked the flowers off the summer varieties to give them a chance to get established but forgot so we ate the few berries anyway. The autumn fruiters are romping away this week with lots of fruit still ripening. Little hands hunt the ruby treasure and few make it as far as the kitchen. Maybe next year there will be enough for jam.