Rhubarb Jam

[Mikkko]

Last year there was a discussion on TMF about rhubarb jam – I tried it and it was delicious! Could not find the old thread, so I have had a go from memory….

If you have rhubarb in your garden, you probably now have so much that you don’t know what to do with it! So try some jam – it is one of the simplest jams to make, no tiddly fruits like blackcurrants, no pips like blackberries, no maggots like plums!!

The key about rhubarb is that it contains no pectin – you HAVE to add some. Now, I have tried experiments with other sources of pectin like lemons and apples, but they tend to make jam taste funny or like apple sauce. The cheapest and most practicable source of pectin I have found is sachets sold in Asda, £1.25 for 3. Check the dates – some in my store were 6 months out of date. Looks like Morrisons do it as well.

I like to buy my sugar from Lidl, currently 59p for 1kg granulated sugar.

You can of course buy Jam Sugar, if you want to pay twice as much as the combined price!

Normally with jam I like to weigh the fruit in kilos and grams, then add exactly the same weight of sugar, and a bit of water.

Because we are using sachets, you really want to use a whole sachet, so this dictates the amount of sugar and fruit to use.

After some experiments I have settled on the following recipe:-

1 pint of rhubarb juice
1 Kilo of granulated sugar
1 sachet (8 grams) of pectin.

Method:-
Pick about 12 – 15 sticks of rhubarb, trim, wash – you need about 1.1 kg at this stage.
Now, you only want the juice, so…
Chop into 2 cm or 1 inch chunks – whiz in a food processor, start with about half and add the rest gradually.
To extract the juice the easiest way I have found is to:-
a) put a sieve above a bowl
b) grab a gob of rhubarb in your hand and squeeze over the bowl. Repeat.
c) Tip any final juice from the processor into the bowl.

Or if you have a juicer, try that.

Once you have all your juice, transfer it to a measuring jug; one pint is what you want.

Take a large saucepan, sprinkle in all the sugar, alternating with sprinkles of pectin. Give it a bit of a stir to mix up the sugar and pectin.

(If you add the pectin after the juice it just forms clumps)

Add the rhubarb juice, stir in a bit and bring to the boil, medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then simmer for about 15 minutes, again stirring occasionally. It likes to boil over, so keep an eye on it.

Now, I do have a jam thermometer but I prefer to test setting by having a plate in the freezer, dribble a coin-sized blob of jam on the plate and put back in the freezer for 2 minutes. When the time is up, remove the plate and push the jam with your finger – if it wrinkles up, the jam is ready. Repeat as required.

Once the set looks good, turn off the heat and leave to settle a bit. Stir in any scum on top. (I have given up scooping it off – it is just bubbles really.)

Jamjars:-
I like to use the Duerr’s marmalade jars with the 2-section lids – but the Bonne Maman jars make a lovely gift.

Assuming you have 4 empty jam jars, I like to put them on a baking tray, remove the lids and put the lids on the baking tray as well. Put in the oven, initially at 50 degrees C, then up to 100 degrees C when 50 reached. As the jam will be at about 100 degrees C you can put it in the jars hot. It also sterilises the jars.

A decent metal jam funnel is useful here – I think I got mine from Wilko,

So, take the jars out of the oven, carefully pour the jam into the jars – I find using the stirring spoon is useful here to control the flow.

Loosely cover the jars with the lids, ideally you want steam from the jam to replace any air. After 5 minutes or so, press down on the lids and tighten. A damp cloth or oven glove will be useful here as they are still flippin hot!

Check for loose lids and tighten any.

Go and do some cleaning up while the jars are cooling, then you will probably need a sit down and a drink.

If you have done it properly, the lids will pop down with a satisfying sound. The jars should look like when you buy jam in the shop. If they have popped, you can be sure there is a good seal. Use any up-popped jars first.

Good luck!

Mick


Update – having written all the above, I tried doing another batch – but as I had a bit more juice left over, I chucked it in. I was quite chuffed that I finished making the jam including washing up in 90 minutes. However, the jam did not set properly, so the next day I had to empty the jars out and boil it all up again. Grrr…

It seems the 1 pint, 1 Kilo, 1 sachet proportions are about optimal.

Mick

[JMN2]

I like rhubarb a lot, rhubarb fools but especially as a Kissel, or Kisel.

But why only use the juice? I like the bits of strands.

[Midsmartin]

I might have to try this, though I already have several years' supply of jam in the cupboard.
I've made rhubarb and strawberry jam.. which can come out as being weakly flavoured strawberry jam.

I've made crab apple jelly in the past, but I'm wondering if it's possible to make a variant with normal eating apples with this year's glut. Or would it just be pretty tasteless? I made an apple & ginger "jam" (unstrained) one year, which is tasty, but the wrong consistency for putting on toast.

I made my favourite batch of strawberry jam this year. The recipe I tried involved crushing the strawberries first , and I think this minimises cooking time. A friend likes whole fruit in her jam though, and must use a long-cook recipe.. it comes out much darker, and less tasty to my mind.

This year's apricot jam is in the cupboard. With quite a bit of lemon in it. A couple of years ago I made apricot and lime (complete with peel)- very tasty indeed, though next time I will cook up the lime peel a bit first I think.

[UncleEbenezer]

The pectin problem sounds much like my blackberry chutney. Got some thickening suggestions in my thread about it: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6708

I always thought of rhubarb as being a spring-season thing. The April start of the season of delicious fresh stuff in the shops (along with the asparagus) and early foraging produce like wild garlic and tender nettles. Is rhubarb really still in season in September?

[midnightcatprowl]

The really early stuff is 'forced' rhubarb grown in the dark in sheds. For growing in gardens in Garden Centres you can buy a variety of types to plant promising early, mid-season or late crops. Whether it really works out that way I don't know.

[Nimrod103]

The really early stuff is 'forced' rhubarb grown in the dark in sheds. For growing in gardens in Garden Centres you can buy a variety of types to plant promising early, mid-season or late crops. Whether it really works out that way I don't know.

I think I first heard about the Rhubarb Triangle on Michael Portillo's train programme (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters ... angle.html). If I remember rightly the dark shed forced rhubarb roots are thrown away afterwards.
I grow a variety called Timperley Early, which is commonly available from garden centres, and can be forced (in the ground, under special pots) to give a crop in February.

PS I have only made Rhubarb jam with ginger (delicious), and I don't add pectin as I quite like it very runny, so it spreads thinly.
Otherwise I make gooseberry and raspberry jam, and redcurrant jelly in abundance - as it is really easy to grow as long as you net off from the birds.

[johnstevens77]

[quote="UncleEbenezer"Is rhubarb really still in season in September?[/quote]
It is in our garden in the SW, had some last week.

john

[johnstevens77]

Mikko, that is a geat post, thanks for that. The only thing I want to ask is why do you (appear) to buy jam pots? I have a collection of assorted jars that I keep re using year after year until the seals give out and then there are always replacement coming along.

john

[sg31]

An easy way to extract the juice from rhubarb is to cover it in sugar. The sugar draws the juice from the stalks. If making jam maybe put the desired amount of sugar on the chunks of rhubarb, leave overnight and proceed from there.

It's a technique I use for making rhubarb wine, it also has the benefit of leaving behind chunks of slightly sweetened rhubarb that is perfect for use as a pie filling or for crumble.

Just an idea.

[Hallucigenia]

I always thought of rhubarb as being a spring-season thing. The April start of the season of delicious fresh stuff in the shops (along with the asparagus) and early foraging produce like wild garlic and tender nettles. Is rhubarb really still in season in September?

It's more a question of giving the poor rhubarb plants a chance to grow and recover their strength after having limbs hacked off. It makes sense to hammer them in spring when there's not many other "fruits" available, I've seen informal rules like not harvesting rhubarb after the summer solstice, in order to build up strength.

Of course, they need a lot of feeding - my neighbour asked me what sort of gunnera I had, as my well-fed rhubarb was so much bigger than his!

[Mikkko]

johnstevens77,

No, I never buy empty jars!!

I find it ludicrous that Robert Dyas sells empty jam jars for £1.50 when you can buy the same thing full of marmalade at Sainsbury's for 75p.

Or even a lot less from Lidl (or Aldi).

But the two-part lids on Duerr's marmalade makes it easier to seal the jars and to open them again.

The main reason I posted this recipe on here was so that I could find it again next year! And I thought that it might be appreciated by some other fools.

But following other suggestions, next time I might try skipping the juicing bit and just use the full stalk. Or maybe half and half.

Regards
Mick