The best rhubarb jam is, of course, homemade. This recipe calls for making rhubarb jam with some lemon, but you can also add strawberries, ginger, or spices. I’ll explain it all to you!
Rhubarb season is in full swing! Time to make your own rhubarb jam. It’s incredibly easy, and before you know it, you’ll have a pantry full of homemade jam. Or give your homemade jam to friends and family, which is perhaps the best part.
I chose to flavor the jam with lemon, but you could use any other citrus fruit or ginger, for example. A rhubarb peach jam also sounds amazing. As long as you stick to the 1 kilograms of rhubarb and partially replace this amount with a fruit of your choice, you’ll be fine.
The fresh jam tastes incredible on a cracker with some Dutch cheese, especially if you like a sweet and salty combination. But it actually tastes delicious on lots of baked goods, like bread and toast.
This rhubarb jam recipe makes a good amount of jam, so you can make a lot of cheese and jam crackers. 😉
It is also incredibly delicious to make strawberry rhubarb jam. This is also a benefit for those at home who are not so fond of rhubarb, because the strawberries make it almost impossible to tell that there is rhubarb in the jam.
To make strawberry rhubarb jam, you replace half the rhubarb with (cleaned) strawberries, so you use 500 grams of strawberries and 500 grams of rhubarb. Furthermore, you can follow the recipe exactly.
Rhubarb, either you love it or you don’t. But since you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you love it! There are many more rhubarb recipes on my baking schedule, but one big recommendation is my recipe for rhubarb crumble.
Rhubarb crumble is truly an unbelievably delicious treat. Serve it as a dessert with ice cream or whipped cream and your guests will keep coming back for more.
What rhubarb recipes would you like to see at Laura’s Bakery? Maybe a typical Dutch recipe with rhubarb? Let me know in the comments below, I’m very curious.
You may still have some old jam jars that you can use for this (the jar in the picture I once bought with Bonne Maman jam in it), but of course you can also buy similar jam jars and lids. Once you get the hang of it, you will need a lot of jam jars.
Jam jars options:
You’ll be making several jars of rhubarb jam for this recipe, so you’ll want to start by sterilizing the jars to keep the jam fresh for a long time. Place the jars in a large saucepan of water, bring to a boil, and simmer for a few minutes. Remove them from the water with tongs and place them on a clean dish towel. Do not dry them; they are hot enough to evaporate the moisture. You have now sterilized your jars and can store the jam for a long time.
Ideally use fruit (in this case, rhubarb) that is in season. You can also use frozen rhubarb for the jam, so you can make rhubarb jam all year round. Let it thaw and drain before using.
In the Netherlands we use gelling sugar or jam sugar (Van Gilse geleisuiker) to make jam because it gives the jam a firmer consistency. It also makes the jam last longer. Don’t have gelling sugar on hand? You can use dry or liquid pectin to make jam. Follow the proportions and cooking instructions on the package of your choice.
When you think your jam is ready, you can do a little test thanks to the gelling sugar. Run a spoon through the jam and draw a line across the back of the spoon. Does the line stay visible? Your jam is ready. Does the jam run directly over the line you drew? Then it may need to be boiled down a bit more.
After the jars have cooled, clean them and put a label on each jar with the date of preparation. I often use a label maker machine, this works very easily and quick.
Store jars in a cool, dry place and open jars in the refrigerator. You can keep jars of jam for up to a year if you keep the jar closed!
In the gray box with my tips for jam making, I explain that in the Netherlands we make rhubarb jam with gelling sugar, or gelling sugar from the brand ‘Van Gilse’. This sugar is simply granulated sugar with added pectin and citric acid.
In America, pectin in jam recipes is often added in liquid or powder form. So while this is the ideal way to replace gelling sugar in the recipe below, there is another way: the addition of pectin in its natural form.
Yes, you can make rhubarb jam without the added pectin in liquid of powder form and also without adding gelling sugar. I’d like to call this rhubarb jam the old-fashioned way.
Rhubarb itself is low in pectine, so it does need this to thicken properly. The quickest way to do this is to add a fruit that is naturally high in pectin. Lemons are high in pectin, so adding the juice of an extra lemon to the recipe works great.
For this method I also soak the rhubarb in sugar for several hours (or overnight), and then use this soaked rhubarb and the liquid it releases to make the jam. Easy as that!
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