Homemade bread and rhubarb jam
I have been making jam for the past few years and I have tried several times, without success, to make rhubarb jam. Instead of a lovely soft jam, I end up with a sort of burnt rhubarb “toffee”. I hate to throw away any food but it really has been inedible. But this year, inspired by Frugal Feeding’s rhubarb and ginger jam post, I thought I would give it another go.
So although I didn’t have any ginger (or jam sugar), I followed the cooking instructions and I now have some truly delicious rhubarb jam. At last!
Jam – and it’s edible!
A lot of jams work on a ratio of 1:1 in weight of prepared fruit to sugar. This is no exception. Rhubarb is not typically very high in pectin which is why it can help to use jam sugar, which is sugar with added pectin. Alternatively you can add liquid pectin or just add some lemon juice, which is what I did. As I prefer soft set jams anyway I don’t mind if it is not particularly well set. I had 800g of rhubarb so used 800g of sugar and the juice of a couple of lemons. If you like rhubarb and ginger jam (and actually have some ginger!) Frugal Feeding’s recipe sounds great so check it out.
I chopped the rhubarb and then added the sugar and lemon juice as instructed:
Leave the rhubarb, sugar and lemon juice to macerate
You need to leave it for a couple of hours, until the sugar has mostly dissolved:
Ready to cook
Bring it to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer. It will take around 40 minutes for the fruit to soften properly. The jam should be ready when the temperature gets to 104ºC. If you don’t have a jam thermometer you can test for a set by dropping a few drops of jam onto a cold saucer. Let it cool for a moment and if it starts to wrinkle when you push it gently with your finger it is ready. You may need to turn up the heat once the fruit is softened, just to get it to the right temperature for a set.
Skim off any scum before pouring into heated jars
My jam isn’t the beautiful pink colour of Frugal Feeding‘s rhubarb jam because my rhubarb wasn’t particularly pink when I started but it still tastes great. I am so pleased to have finally mastered rhubarb jam. Now I just need to make some successful strawberry jam…
Bread and jam for breakfast
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Categories: Baking, Bread, Fruit, Jam making and Preserves, Recipes
lovinghomemade 
Strawberry is low in pectin too, and the revelation I found was a NY Times recipe from a while back — add one kiwifruit to the mix. You don’t notice the taste, and it adds enough pectin for a wonderful set. (My boil was about half the 40 minutes that the recipe suggests. It’s amazing.)
http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1014783/strawberry-jam-with-kiwi.html
That’s a great idea, thank you very much. Thanks for reading and commenting!
What an amazing idea!!! Yummo! I have never even thought of making it before so kudos to you on all your experiments 🙂
Thank you!
I love rhubarb jam! ❤
Me too!
Well done! Waiting for a pot
You just need to remind me!
You make your own jam! Wow! And rhubarb? My dad would absolutely love that! It is fun that you can make jams that you can’t normally find in stores, like this one!
Thanks – my dad is a big rhubarb fan too!
🙂
Lovely that you reproduced rhubarb jam! I think the jam sugar means it doesn’t need to be cooked for so long to set – and thereby keeping its fresh color. You have made me want to go out and pick some of my rhubarb. Jam making is on the cards. And, I do have some jam sugar in the cupboard! 😄
I hadn’t really thought about jam sugar having that effect but it makes sense. Thank you very much! Hope you enjoy your jam making.
Oh! I absolutely ADORE rhubarb! I am so impressed, homemade everything is better, but there is something really, really special about homemade jam… 🙂
Thank you!
Lovely! Good for you!
Thank you!
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