Cut 400g rhubarb (forced rhubarb has that lovely pink colour and delicate flavour) into 4cm pieces and lay in a single layer in a shallow baking dish (they should fit snugly).

Sprinkle with 140g sugar (I use a 35% ratio of fruit to sugar). And then drizzle on 70ml water* (half the weight in sugar).

Cover with baking paper and bake in the oven set to 170c for 12–15 minutes (depending on the thickness of the rhubarb stalks).

Remove from the oven and leave to cool and refrigerate overnight.

Carefully remove the stalks from the dish and strain the syrup into a jar (will keep in the refrigerator for a month – or freeze).

If any of the stalks break apart you can strain these through a sieve to extract the syrup. Don’t throw away the pulp. Stir it into yoghurt, or dehydrate it to make fruit leather

* You can substitute blood orange juice for the water.