This has been the year of rhubarb. I moved a crown of rhubarb to deep peaty soil a couple of years ago, and it has gone mad. The warm wet weather and seaweed has led to monster stems, and I have been trying out jam recipes. I’ll add a few variations as I test them out.
The main ingredients for simple rhubarb jam are very simple. First pull your rhubarb. It is better for the plant to pull the stems from the crown, rather than cutting them. Choose stems that are over a foot long, the longer the better. Don’t take any stems that have settled on the surface of the soil for any length of time, they will not be such good quality. Use the leaves as a surface mulch in the veg garden.
INGREDIENTS:
- Rhubarb stems, washed and sliced to around 1 cm long
- Equal weight of sugar
- For each 500g rhubarb, add the juice of a lemon
METHOD:
- Put the rhubarb in the jam pan and cover with the sugar. Leave to stand until the next day.
- Add the lemon juice, and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for around 20 minutes, until the jam is thick. Keep stirring to prevent anything from sticking to the base of the pan.
- Pour into warm sterilised jam jars.
I warm my washed jamjars in the oven at 80C. Putting them through a dish washer first is good as well. I sterilise the jar lids in boiling water.