Jun. 30, 2008

Nature's Recipe Box ~ Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

We have an overabundance of delicious rhubarb that's just begging to be used. So we've had rhubarb pie, rhubarb fool and now rhubarb jam with the added sweetness of strawberries :) I thought that I would share my Strawberry Rhubarb Jam recipe that I use without any added artificial pectin.

Ingredients
4 cups diced rhubarb
6 cups of hulled strawberries cut in half only
2 green apples quartered and seeds removed
6 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of apple juice/water*


Wash the rhubarb and then using your food processor and the slicing plate, run all of the rhubarb through it. I find that this is the quickest and easiest way to prepare the rhubarb for jam and I personally don't like really big chunks of it in my jam anyways. Once you have 4 cups cut place it in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan.


Now for the natural pectin. Instead of using Certo or one of the other box pectins you can find at the supermarket I like to use apples to thicken my jam and it always does a great job :) All fruits have a natural pectin in them, some more than others but apples have the strongest amount of the natural thickener. You want to use green apples or tart not quite ripe apples and cut them in quarters removing the seeds only, but not the peel. Place them in a saucepan with just enough water to cover the bottom of the pot and simmer them until they are tender when poked with a fork. Once they are cooked, pour the juice and the apples into a fine mesh strainer over top of a measuring cup. *You are going to use the water from the pot and as much liquid as you can squeeze from the cooked apples as your 1/2 cup liquid needed for the recipe. Don't worry if a bit of apple puree falls into your measuring cup as you collect the juice, it won't hurt the recipe at all :) I didn't quite get 1/2 a cup when I made mine so I just topped it up with a little bit of water. Take your liquid in your measuring cup and pour it into your big pot of sliced rhubarb and place it on the stove.


You can start to simmer your rhubarb with the lid on while you get your strawberries hulled and halved.


Now that you have everything ready add your strawberries to your rhubarb and liquid and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling pour in your sugar and continue cooking it at a full rolling boil stirring constantly for 15 minutes. An easy way to tell if your jam is going to be the desired consistency you want is to do the spoon test. Place a plate in your freezer so it chills and then when you are ready to test the thickness of your jam, dip a spoon in it, place it on the plate in the freezer for about a minute so that it can cool quickly and then take the spoon out and turn it on its side. Does it slide off quickly and is runny still? or is it nice and thick and moves just a little? If it's the latter then your jam is ready to be placed in your hot sterile jars. Now pour your jam into your jars and seal :)


I like to keep my jars nice and toasty in the oven at 200*F while I work so that they are ready when I am :) I put in a deep baking sheet and then cover it with a layer of boiling water out of the kettle, then I pour some of the boiling water into my jars and then place them in the water on the cookie sheet. I also keep a kettle of boiling water ready towards the end of cooking my jam to pour into the pot with my sealers as well so that it only takes me a minute to get them up to the 180 degree temperature needed for them to seal properly. Boy do I miss the good old days when you could put the sealers in the pot and just let them boil without any worries. Now it says not to bring them to a boil or they may not work properly :( Another little trick I use for getting the jam into my jars without a lot of mess is by pouring it into a large 2 liter measuring cup so that I can pour it into the jars without all the drips and spills of ladling it in from the
pot :) Yields 11 cups.


I love to hear the popping sound that the sealers make as they suck down. I always wait anxiously listening for it. It signifies a job well done *grin* I found some pretty gingham and natural raffia to use as toppers for my jam jars and now they are ready to be given as gifts. That is if we don't eat it all first *grin*

Have fun using up some of nature's bounty :)