juicy roots

Hello my dear readers, if you’ve never been doing jam it would be best if you start with this pro recipe. This jam is very easy to make unlike rhubarb which is not…because you know… it takes time for nature to make its progress. But why am I mentioning rhubarb? Because as you are about to find out, this plant is the secret to our geletation process! That’s right! It will be the key ingredient for our jam. Trust me the whole matter gets significantly more complex as “P-E-C-T-I-N-S” get involved…

But what are pectins, gelation process and why is it good for you?

Pectins are natural plant components contained in water-soluble fiber. These „components” live within the cell wall of the plant and have gelling properties – thus the name gelation process. As you might have guessed the rhubarb plant is one of the easiest plants to extract the pectins from. Without pectins, there will be no jellies, marmalades and fruit jams. It’s like visiting the chocolate factory without cocoa. Pectins also have a health-promoting effect – above all, they support the regulation of cholesterol and carbohydrate metabolism within your body.

To sum up: making a rhubarb jam is the perfect plan and I encourage you to do it! Trust me, try it, true or dare, upload a picture of your cooking feast or it never happened, best friend as a tasting subject may be required; feel free to challenge me in the comments section; comments undermining my authority may be removed 🙂

So let’s get started. You can make classic rhubarb jam or add some extra spices for the spice to flow. Gonna make that jam taste good as sharing is caring. I suggest you add some fresh or dried ginger, orange peel or Madagascar vanilla, or remember to just go wild once in a while with some experimentation. However do note, lone rhubarb tastes great just as well.

Ingredients :

1-kilogram rhubarb

300 gr sugar

Optional, some fresh or dried ginger, orange peel or Madagascar vanilla. Remember you only have to choose one or skip all if you prefer.

Equipment:

Jars, jars and one more time jars! For example 4 x 160 ml or 2 x 330ml. This recipe will give you roughly about 660 ml of jam so you better hope you have some empty jars at home. Moreover, you will need a kitchen with a frying pan, hob, spoon and a blanket.

The jars need to be thoroughly washed and then baked in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for about half an hour. The lids need to be boiled, they cannot be baked because they have a rubber lining.

Preparation:

Put the peeled and chopped rhubarb and sugar into a saucepan with a thick bottom. Wait for about 1h for the sugar and rhubarb to combine. Let the juices come out, rhubarb needs to soften up – its a little shy but the sugar will help. Patience is key.

Next, use small to medium fire and boil it for half an hour and remember to keep stirring from time to time. Throw away the foam created on the top and… that’s it!

Put the ready jam into jars and remember to turn off the fire.

In order for the jam to last long idealy, you want to pasteurize it. There are 2 ways this can be achieved:

Short version: Place the jars upside down and cover with a blanket for 12 hours.

Long version: Cover the bottom of the pot (such a size that the jars fit) with paper towels. Insert the jars and pour hot water to approximately ¾ of the jars. (Hot jars are filled with hot water. The temperature of water and jars must be similar so that they do not break.) Boil 15 minutes undercooking. Take the jars out of the water, place them on a cloth and allow to cool.