Monday, May 20, 2013

Roasted strawberry-rhubarb jam


There's a ton of rhubarb in my garden.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to inherit part of divided rhubarb patch that one of my neighbors was giving away. Given that I had only gotten turned on to rhubarb the year before, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the harvest.

After today, I will never again worry about that because I have discovered roasted rhubarb jam.

And now I wish I had more, more, MORE rhubarb in my garden, perhaps an entire garden of just rhubarb, simply so I could make jar after jar of this jam. It is that good.

Oh, and did I mention absurdly easy? Set-it-and-forget-it easy? No pectin or lemon juice easy?

Yep, that easy.

Many thanks to Aimee from Homemade Trade for putting this in my path -- I overlooked it last year when she originally posted it, as part of the Cook It! 2012 challenge in which we both participated (and were the only finishers, along with our hostess, Caroline of Grow It Cook It Can It). What a mistake on my part!

My only modification to Aimee's recipe (which she in turn got from In Jennie's Kitchen) was to add some half-thawed strawberries from last year's haul; you probably have fresh strawberries in season right now where you live, but we're still a little ways away from that here in northern Vermont.

So, are you ready to be amazed? Here it is:

Trim and chop about 1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb. Toss the rhubarb with a half pound of sliced strawberries and a cup of sugar in an 11 x 17 glass baking dish and roast for half an hour at 400 degrees. Once the dish comes out of the oven, mash it all up with a potato masher and let it cool (it gets thicker as it cools). Done.





This version yields about 3 half pint jars, so if you want less (you won't, trust me), you can simply half the recipe. But don't; you'll regret it. It is the perfect blend of tart and sweet.

You can keep the jam in the refrigerator for a few weeks or process it in a waterbath canner for longer shelf life. So you can make jam muffins with it. Or give it as a gift.

Trust me, this is one hell of a gift. You can give some to me anytime.


7 comments:

  1. Okay I am coming over for some of your rhubarb. I went to Healthy Living for local Rhubarb, and they said that they were out temporarily, and that their best supply was from back yard gardeners anyway. I have been dreaming of rhubarb jam on good bread. This looks soooo great!!!

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    1. Hmmmm ... if mine is missing in the morning, I know where to look. :-)

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  2. Oh...I found it thanks to that nifty little search button in your sidebar.

    This does sound amazing. I think this will be the perfect thing for my frozen strawberries and rhubarb.

    Thanks for the idea and the recipe!!! I will definitely let you know how it comes out :)

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    1. Excellent! You will love it, trust me.

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    2. I grabbed some of the last strawberries and rhubarb at the farm near me and made this today. You are absolutely correct! It is excellent. I'm really looking forward to putting some of this on pancakes this weekend.

      It made enough so I could process some for later and still have enough to keep in the fridge for now.

      Thanks so much for the suggestion!

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