I'd been planning to turn some rhubarb into jam for a while and finally got around to it last week. I based my jam on this recipe by River Cottage's Pam Corbin. I added vanilla because I was hoping to achieve the taste of rhubarb & custard sweets, which I like for their combination of sweet and tart. I was very pleased with the result, even if I say so myself and thought I'd share the recipe.
Rhubarb & Custard Jam
(makes about 5 small jars)
Need To Have
800g rhubarb, roughly chopped
juice of two oranges
zest of one orange
1 vanilla pod
1kg jam sugar (with added pectin)
10g unsalted butter
Need To Do
Combine rhubarb, orange juice and orange zest in a big pot.
Cut vanilla pod in half, scrape out the seeds and mix those through the jam sugar till evenly distributed. Add jam sugar and vanilla halves to the pot.
Place pot over a low heat and heat, stirring, until all sugar has dissolved and the rhubarb becomes soft, but is not yet falling apart. Add the butter.
Turn the heat up to high and bring everything to a rolling boil, which means that the jam will start bubbling ferociously and will rise in the pot. Keep stirring and boil for about 5 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat and fill the jam into sterilized glass jars straight away. Be very careful not to burn yourself, the jam and glasses will be extremely hot. The best method to get the jam in the containers relatively mess-free is using a ladle and a special jam funnel. You might want to place the jars on a kitchen towel in order to protect your kitchen counter, if it's of a delicate material.
Close the lids tightly and let the jam cool before having it on a thick slice of bread with some creamy butter.
P.S.: The jam labels are courtesy of How About Orange.
© Annika - All The Live Long Day (unless otherwise stated)
oh yeah, the special jam funnel ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis jam is excellent with freshly baked waffles - tried and tested!!
xx
Sounds yummy. Will give it a try because my reserves of blackberry jam are running very low now.
ReplyDeleteI use the recipe from Nigella's how to be a domestic goddess:
ReplyDelete1kg of blackberries
1kg of jam sugar
juice of 1 lemon.
Put fruit, sugar and lemon juice into pan and let sugar dissolve over low heat.
Turn up the heat and bring the jam to the boil. Keep the jam at a rolling boil until setting point is reached. Makes 1 litre.
Unless like me you are fussy about pips and pass it through a sieve to remove the big lumps.
I think I blended it slighty this year before boiling to get more fruit into the jam and not so much left behind on the sieve.
Very tasty it is too.
@Vicky
ReplyDeleteThanks! Thinking about this jam will give me an incentive to actually go blackberry picking this year.
I have never tasted rhubarb before, but blackberries are my very favorite.
ReplyDelete