Recipe: Rhubarb Strawberry Freezer Jam

Here's another recipe for jam using your garden's rhubarb and strawberries. This one will last quite a while in the freezer. Your guests will delight in figuring out the special ingredient.

Ingredients:

5 cups diced rhubarb

3 cups sugar

1 20-ounce can crushed pineapple, with juice

1 cup diced fresh strawberries

1 6-ounce package strawberry gelatin

Directions:

Boil slowly the rhubarb, sugar, strawberries and pineapple in a medium saucepan for 20 minutes. Stir every few minutes to prevent sticking and burning. Remove from heat and add gelatin, stirring until completely dissolved. Quickly spoon into small jam jars, wipe edges, and seal. Screw on the sterilized lids and bands on the sterilized jars and tighten. As the jam cools, the lids will pop. Leave out until it's cooled to room temperature. Carefully wash and dry the outside of the jars. Store in freezer. Defrost to serve.

Copyright (c) 2009 V P Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Refrigerator Rhubarb Jam

I've mentioned before I don't much care for rhubarb, but Hubby does, and we have a huge bush of it in our backyard. So I experimented with this recipe, and wow ... wonderful! I even liked it a little. Does well in the refrigerator for a few weeks.

Ingredients:

5 cups diced rhubarb stalks

2 cups sugar

1 package strawberry gelatin

Directions:

Wash the rhubarb stalks thoroughly, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (actually, I like smaller dices). Put into a sealable bowl. Pour the sugar over the rhubarb, cover and refrigerate overnight. (The sugar draws out water from the rhubarb.) In the morning, pour the mixture into a medium-large saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender. Remove from heat. Add the strawberry gelatin, stirring until granules are dissolved. Pour into small jam jars (or other small coverable containers) and refrigerate.

Note: To make fresh in the Winter, place 5 cups of diced rhubarb stalks in a freezer baggie, label with contents, amount and date, and freeze. When ready to use, take out of freezer, add the sugar, reseal, and place in the refrigerator overnight. Ready to proceed the next morning!

Copyright (c) 2009 V P Lawrence-Williams

Preserving Rhubarb from the Garden

I'm sure you've heard of strawberry-rhubarb pie, and putting up strawberry-rhubarb jam, but in this house, it won't work.

Hubby is really the only one of us that likes rhubarb. I'd offer some to my mother-in-law, but she is the one who gave us the plant because hers spread so much. Our little plant that gave us about 4 little stalks last year is huge this Spring, with about 20-25 stalks ready for stripping.

On Thursday, when the weather is cooler, I'll cut about half of them off. I'll bring them in, wash them, cut into 1-inch pieces, and place them on the dehydrator sheets. They will dry until as crunchy as possible.

They can be stored two ways:

1. Place the 1-inch dried pieces of rhubarb in a mason jar, add an oxygen absorber if necessary, and screw lid on tightly. I have my VHTS decorate a dark piece of construction paper with a picture of rhubarb on it, mark on the date, and cover well. Store in a cool dark place, like the basement or root cellar. Use when making a winter's strawberry-rhubarb pie.


2. Pulverize the dried rhubarb until it's a fine powder. Store as above, but noting on the label (construction paper) that it's the powder. Add to strawberry jam on biscuits, or when you want to kick-up the taste of an apple pie. Yum!

Rhubarb is a really healthy plant, providing lots of vitamins and minerals. You shouldn't count it out just because you don't like it. So... don't let rhubarb scare you. If you don't like the taste, then drying and powdering is the way to go. You could even add it to dough when mixing bread. Enjoy!