Eat Skinny: Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
PIN IT!What a weekend, friends! I spent the past few days in Ohio celebrating the wedding of my cousin Curt and his lovely bride Clare! I want to share just a few pictures of the wedding before we dive into the amazing strawberry rhubarb jam I made last week.
They were such a BEAUTIFUL couple and the wedding was gorgeous. It had a rustic, elegant vibe with burlap and mason jars. It was held at the Hillbrook, a stunning country club in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Seriously, gorgeous. The house itself is a giant Tudor style mansion and it overlooks tons of gardens and trees! Congrats again you two!
Now, let’s talk jam! And not just any ol’ jam, low-sugar strawberry rhubarb jam!
I am SO into jam making these days. I honestly can’t believe I haven’t made it sooner. Not only is it the easiest thing in the world to make, it’s SO delicious. I refuse, flat out REFUSE, to buy jam at the store now. Because I’m sorry Smuckers, you just don’t compare.
Plus, it’s low-sugar, which means you won’t get a cavity eating it! That’s one thing I hate about store bought jams, how high in sugar they are! Luckily strawberries are so natrually sweet anyway, you don’t need cups of sugar to make it taste good.
As you know, I’m still new to the rhubarb trend but its safe to say I’m obsessed. This jam is sweet, but earthy and so perfect on toast. Plus, one jar of this stuff will last MONTHS so even when rhubarb season is over, you can still enjoy it with your coffee.
Oh and it makes the best gift idea! Who doesn’t love jam, I mean really? If you don’t, I’m not sure we can still be friends.
Recipe adapted from Delectable Musings.
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Yields about 3.5 pints (and 56 servings)
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 – 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds fresh strawberries, tops removed & chopped
- 1 1/2 pounds rhubarb, diced
- About 1 – 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Directions:
- Place strawberries, rhubarb, sugar (1 cup) and lemon juice in a large sauce pan.
- Carefully mash the strawberries a bit (with a fork or wooden spoon) until they are squishy.
- Cook until sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 – 5 minutes. Taste the mixture to see if it needs more sugar. If so, add another 1/4 – 3/4 cup. Then cover and reduce heat to low. Let jam simmer for about 20 minutes, or until mixture reaches 220 degrees F.
- Remove from heat and immediately transfer to sterile mason or canning jars. Cover with lid and chill for an hour. Then serve, keep or enjoy!
Nutritional information per serving (2 tablespoons):
Calories: 25
Fat: 0 grams
Carbohydrates: 6.5 grams
Protein: >1 gram
Fiber: >1 gram
Weight Watchers Points: 1 point
I followed the recipe pretty much as written, but I do have a couple minor tweaks to suggest.
If making this recipe for the first time, I would recommend first mashing up the strawberries a bit in a bowl, then simmering the rhubarb with about 1/2 C of the strawberry juice for a couple minutes before adding the berries and sugar. This will allow you to better gauge how much sugar you need. If you taste the jam just after the sugar is dissolved without first cooking the rhubarb (as the recipe is written), it will taste much sweeter than the final product because the tart rhubarb will not be broken down yet. I ended up using the full two cups of sugar, so I know for next time. But for anyone making this for the first time, I would recommend following this step.
I also ended up simmering longer than instructed--partly by accident, partly because I wanted a thicker jam. I probably simmered for a full 40 minutes, maybe longer. I stopped simmering when my wooden spoon held a nice gooey coating of jam on it when taken out of the pot. Simmering longer does two things: it allows more of the natural pectin from the fruit to be released, and also cooks off some of the excess liquid (I had REALLY juicy berries). As such, my final yield was a full pint less than the original recipe--about 40 oz.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts. I am new to the jam world, and I am never going back to store bought jam! Thanks again for the great recipe. It gave me that little push to go ahead and give the whole jam making thing a try!