The rhubarb takeover has begun! Same place, same time, year after year. I’ve finally decided to make the most out of the plant and experiment with some recipes. This was first up and I was not disappointed. It is a delicate flavoured, jelly. The consistency is a softer jelly but it holds it’s shape, so perfect for spreading! Let’s get to the recipe so you don’t have to scroll so much, then I’ll do the chit chat at the end if you are interested in sticking around for that!

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 lbs rhubarb, skin on, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup water
• 7 cups sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract (real not artificial) -OR- 1 tbsp vanilla paste -OR- 1 vanilla bean
• 2 packets liquid pectin (approx. 170 ml or 6 ounces)

Directions

1. Get your hot water bath boiling. Sterilize all jars and lids.
2. Roughly chop all rhubarb with the skin on until you have 2-1/2 lbs worth. Leaving the skin on helps with the colour.
3. Place the chopped rhubarb into a blender with 1/2 cup of water. Blend until you have a watery pulp with no chunks.
4. Place the pulp / puree into cheesecloth or jelly bag. Let it hang over a bowl to collect the juice. I placed mine into a fine strainer with the cheesecloth inside to add an extra layer. This is not necessary, just my method. You can lightly squeeze or press the bag, but be careful to ensure that you are not getting any pulp coming through. This will make your jelly cloudy. The key is to get 3-1/2 cups of liquid from the pulp / puree.
5. In a large pot, place the rhubarb juice, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Stir to combine and heat the mixture to a boil. Stir regularly.
6. Let it reach a full rolling boil. Set a timer and let it boil for 3 minutes. Stay close as it may expand. Stirring it is ok. I lightly ran my spatula over the top of the mixture to keep the foaming down and was able to let it boil for the full 3 minutes at a medium-high heat.
7. After 3 minutes, stir in the 2 packets (170 ml or 6 ounces) of liquid pectin.
8. Bring the mixture back to a full rolling boil. Once reached, set a timer for 1 minute. Again it may expand so stay by it to stir if needed.
9. Turn off the heat, and remove the pot from the element. Skim off any foam that is on the surface.
10. Fill your prepared, sterilized jars to within 1/4″ from the top.
11. Wipe down the rim of the jar to remove any jelly residue. Attach the lids and slightly tighten. Don’t over tighten the lids or they won’t seal properly.
12. Process for 10 minutes.

NOTES:

1. You can use powdered pectin if you prefer. Use 4 tbsp and add it before bringing it to a boil. I find the liquid pectin more reliable, so I tend to use it over the powdered pectin.
2. If you don’t want to can the jars, let them cool, then add the lid and refrigerate.

Photos of the Process

Chit Chat Bit

We love jams and jellies, but I hadn’t thought to make a jelly with rhubarb. My gran always just stewed it and topped ice cream with it. I wanted to find some more ways to use it because we always get such a large amount of rhubarb from our very healthy and happy plant.

This jelly was a variation of many recipes that came up online. My next batch, I am considering using earl grey tea and omitting the vanilla to see if I can get a bit of a floral flavour to the jelly. I don’t know that I would get enough of the flavour from the tea to make an impact to the overall flavour. But I am willing to give it a try!

This jelly ended up a beautiful consistency. It is a soft-solid. Very contradictory in nature really when described that way. But I can’t think of a better way to say it. It holds it’s shape, but spreads beautifully. Some jellies can be very chunky when “spread”. This one doesn’t have that problem.

We had it on some homemade sourdough with a smear of cream cheese for the first try. Mm-mm-mm! I tried it the next day on some buttered sourdough bread, and it was just as good. I will try it next with some peanut butter. It is a bit of a delicate flavour so I don’t know if the peanut butter will overpower it.

I will also likely put some of this out next time we have some brie and crackers. Having a few jellies on the charcuterie board is never a problem. Well, maybe for my waistline, but not for the options in flavour!