Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Strawberry-rhubarb jam is quickly becoming a favorite in our home. It's right up there with apple butter. After a little tweaking I think I've come up with a good recipe that works well for our tastes. Instead of sugar I used honey in this batch. It seemed to work perfectly. The batch where I used sugar seemed to be a little too sweet for us. I also used the equivalent of 1 1/2 boxes of pectin in this batch and it made the jam less runny which is how we like our jam.

I like to place a bunch of jars in my dishwasher and put them on a short cycle. It gets the jar cleaned and sanitized quickly.

If you place lids in a small sauce pan on the stove to simmer they'll be set to go when you need them.

Here's your cast of ingredients. Not too shabby, huh?

I like to dice up the strawberries as well as rhubarb. Add some lemon juice and get that heat going.

Add your pectin and bring the mixture to a rolling boil.

After it comes to a rolling boil add your honey and boil again. Once it gets to a rolling boil it may start to get a little foamy. You can skim the foam off if it bothers you, but I just leave it. No one around here seems to care or even notice.

Ladle the jam into jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace at the top of the jar. Place a lid and ring on the jar and it's ready for a little bath.

I like to set the jars above the water and lower them all in at once.

Lower the jars into the water making sure there is at least 2 inches of water above each jar. Process jars for at least 10 minutes. Once they're finished you can remove them from the pot and place them on the counter to cool down. Then sit patiently and listen for that fun popping sound.

Serve on toast or make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients:

4 cups crushed strawberries

2 cups cooked rhubarb

4 cups honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 boxes of Pectin

Directions:

Prepare lids and jars. I place my jars in the dishwasher on quick rinse and lids simmer in a small saucepan.

Wash and hull strawberries. Dice if you want it less chunky. Wash rhubarb and dice. To cook rhubarb add to a pot cover with water and simmer until tender. Meanwhile, mash up the strawberries to desired consistency.

Drain liquid from rhubarb. Add strawberries, lemon juice, and pectin. Cook to a full, rolling boil. 

Add honey. Bring the mixture back to a rolling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute.

Fill jars leaving a 1/4 inch headspace at the top of the jar. Wipe top of jar. Place lid and ring on jar.

Place jars into the boiling water canner. Make sure jars are covered with at least 2 inches of water. Process jars for 10 minutes (high altitude), 5 min for you sea level folk.

Remove jars from canner and let cool, usually overnight. Check seals the next day and you’re done!