Raspberry Butter

This recipe is from Delia's Complete How to Cook.

But what is raspberry butter, you're wondering?

The answer is that, traditionally, country people used to use up surplus summer fruits by making fruit cheeses. Damsons, for instance, can be cooked long and slow until they are concentrated into a thick, cheese-like consistency. Fruit butters are similar, but not quite so thick. This version, made with raspberries, has all the concentrated flavour and aroma of the fruit, perfect for piling on to scones with generous amounts of clotted cream.

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Method

To make the raspberry butter, purée the raspberries in a food processor, then pass them through a fine nylon sieve, pressing with a wooden spoon so that as much juice as possible gets through – you should get about 15fl oz (425 ml).

Now place the purée in a medium saucepan with the sugar and heat very gently until the sugar has dissolved.

Then turn up the heat so the mixture boils rapidly for 8-10 minutes, but keep stirring from time to time so it doesn't catch on the base. When it's ready, the mixture should have reduced by one third and a wooden spoon drawn across the base of the pan should leave a trail for 1-2 seconds only, but be careful not to overcook it, or you will get glue.

Then pour it into a serving dish and leave to one side to cool and set for at least an hour. Serve thickly spread on scones (see below for recipe), with lots of clotted cream.

Raspberry butter can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.