Strawberries are here...Strawberry Rhubarb Jam!

After a loooooooong, very, very cold winter, spring has finally arrived and it finally feels like the winter is behind us. With the warmer weather, low cost strawberries are starting to flood the super market and before long, local strawberry picking will be starting.

Yesterday at the grocery store, in addition to having strawberries on sale, they had some beautiful Rhubarb. It brought back awesome memories of my Grandma's Strawberry Rhubarb pies. My Grandma is definitely a master pie maker - but this is a favorite of both mine and my dads. Anyone who knows me knows that I...on the other hand..am a disaster pie maker. However, this Strawberry Rhubarb Jam is right up my alley!


Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

1.5 lbs Rhubarb, sliced
2lbs Strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1 3/4 cups water
7 TB Ball Pectin (or equivalent)
4 1/2 cup sugar





Start with about 1 1/2 pounds of fresh rhubarb stalks.

Chop up rhubarb into slices. 

Place rhubarb into a colander and rinse well. 

Place your Rhubarb into a large pot (I use a enameled case iron stock pot for all my jams) with 1/4 of the water. Put on medium loan heat. As the rhubarb begins to cook and soften, begin to mash with a potato masher. Continue to cook and mash the rhubarb until no large hard chunks remain.

If you are going to can your jam, while your Rhubarb is cooking is also a good time to fill up your canner and get some heat on it. It will take a bit of time for the water to come up to boiling to sterilize your jars and eventually process your finished jam. This jam can also be frozen for 6 months to a year or stored in the fridge for a couple weeks if you'd prefer not to can. 

Once your Rhubarb is softened and mashed, add in your Strawberries. To prepare the Strawberries, remove the green leaves and any stems. Large berries can be cut into halves or thirds. Smaller berries can be kept whole. Rinse berries well before adding to your Rhubarb.

To the jam pot, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups water. Mash your strawberries into the Rhubarb, again, until you have no large chunks of berry.

To the mashed mixture, add your pectin. I use 7 TB of Ball Pectin for Jam which comes in a round plastic container. However, you could use any brand of pectin. Just make sure your checking the label to ensure there are no radical differences in how much pectin or sugar you need for the amount of fruit you are using.

Bring your fruit mixture to a full rolling boil. At this stage you won't be able to stir down the boil. Once it reaches a full boil, add in your sugar.

Mix your sugar in and bring back up to a full rolling boil again. Boil hard for 1 full minute.

Turn off the stove top heat. Ladle hot jam into sterilized canning jars (for canning, freezing or fridge) or freezer or other containers (for freezer or fridge). If freezing jars, make sure you check the label to ensure the type of jar you are using can be froze. Often times, the small jelly jars or half pints are fine for freezing, but freezing is not recommended for larger jars. 

Process your jars for 10 minutes in your canner at a full boil. Turn off the heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes before removing from the canner.

This jam is amazing on toast, an old fashioned PB&J Sandwich or spread on crackers or cookies. Enjoy the awesome taste of the spring harvest!