One of the fun things about homesteading is taking something you have an abundance of and turning it into something you can use. Right now there are a couple of plants on the homestead that are beyond abundant in their blooming glory, the rhubarb and the Nootka rose.
Now, I have been using the rhubarb like mad and have given quite a bit away, but as we have had a plethora of rain this spring, the rhubarb is yielding like a zucchini plant I swear. As of late I have been chunking it up and freezing it for later wine-making activities.
The Nootka roses are beyond gorgeous this year and the bushes are loaded. I always pick petals and dry them for tea, but this year as I had a surplus of both plants my brain started that what if song on rotation and the following post is the end result of that neuron song.
Because things are so expensive and I hate waste, I tend not to experiment too far beyond the Kat-family standard palate realm, but for some reason I just thought rose and rhubarb jam might actually taste good, and at the very least it would be pretty!
That said, I decided to keep my experimental batch on the small side. Usually when I make jam I like to have at least 5-7 pints to show for my effort, especially since my Hawaiians put away quite a bit of homemade jam during a calendar year. Seriously, I tend to can upwards of 30+ pints which is kinda funny if you think about it, as I tend to not eat much sugar at all, lol!
Anyway, I started my rhubarb rose jam experiment by picking a bunch of fresh rose petals. I've had worse jobs let me tell you, the roses smell so, so good right now and as it was early in the morning, there were no insects to battle with for my fragrant prize!
Then I walked out to the pasture to Rhubarb # 3. R#3 is a gigantic specimen, about the size of a Volkswagon Beatle. We've already picked a ton off of the plant but it just keeps on producing. I blame the manure.
After pulling out some stalks, I headed back to the house and gave everything a good rinsing.
The first order of business was to make a rose-infused sugar syrup. I put some water and some sugar in a pan, brought it to a boil, added the rose petals, squished them a bit, and let it sit for a spell. Thirty minutes would be adequate, but I got busy doing some farm stuff so the syrup infused for about an hour.
Then I strained my syrup and spent more time than I am willing to admit admiring the beautiful rose shade of the stuff. Seriously, what a glorious color the syrup was!
Next, I started chopping my rhubarb. Now according to the standard ratios for jam, I knew I needed about 2.5 pounds of rhubarb. Normally I would just eyeball it, but since I was going to blog about my jam-making adventure later, I got out my kitchen scale and weighed out 2.5 pounds of rhubarb, which is about 10-12 good sized stalks for those of you who don't have kitchen scale. Not gonna lie, my kitchen scale is worth every penny, especially when making cosmetics.
Back to the jam, after slicing up the rhubarb, I got out the Smack Chopper thing that my pal BK got me as a gag gift for my birthday and slap chopped the snot out of the rhubarb. It may have been a gag gift but I love that dang thing!
I then got out a large stainless steel pot and plunked the minced rhubarb into it. The rose syrup got poured over the rhubarb and I cranked the heat up to get the whole thing boiling. Have I mentioned I love my new stove? When you make do with something that doesn't really work that great (but functioned) for a long time, boy do you really appreciate something that works awesome. Yay new stove!
Anyway, after the rhubarb and rose syrup got to boiling, I reduced it to a simmer for a couple minutes. Then I added the pectin.
I love pectin. I do make jam without it on occasion, but it's a lot longer of a process. After adding the pectin, I brought the mixture back to a rolling boil, while stirring constantly, and let it boil hard for a minute.
Now's the time to mention the awesome French sentiment of mise en place. It's basically a fun to say phrase for get all your crap together so you don't look like an acid tripping seagull flapping about in your kitchen trying to get everything ready as you cook. I like French phrases.
So, due to remembering that phrase, I had my sugar already pre-measured and in a bowl next to me. Jam making moves along at a fast pace, the last thing you want to do is to try to stir hard boiling fruit while trying to measure like a zillion cups of sugar. It's not a good time.
So, after my pectin/rhubarb/rose syrup mixture had boiled a minute, I added the sugar, brought the mixture back to a boil, while stirring constantly of course, and let it boil hard for a minute. Jam = DONE.
Now might be a good time to note that I already had a water bath canner with my future to be full of jam jars boiling in it as well as my lids and rings in a separate water filled pan simmering along with my jar grabber, magnetic lid picker upper, and a ladle all ready to go. Because mise en place.
The thing is, I have canned so much stuff at this point in my life, that the canning procedure just kinda flows. Aren't our brains amazing! I love that you can practice an activity enough that your cranium intuitively conducts the process out of habit without a lot of thought, for right when my jam was done, so too were my jars sterilized and ready to fill and process. Homestead Happenins Yo!
Anyway, cornball Kat moment aside, using my stainless steel funnel and a ladle, I filled my sterilized jars, slapped rings and lids on them, and plopped them back into the canner for a processing bath.
Water bath canning is easy, especially for things like jams and pickles, that said, you should always be super, super clean and sterile and check your processing time according to your altitude and container sizes. I processed my jam for 15 minutes. We won't talk about my ancestors and their paraffin wax non-processing at all jam canning. Nope, nope, nope馃槈
All told, this experimental recipe made three and a half pints. But did it taste good?
Rhubarb Rose jam is fantastic, it has this tangy almost citrus taste to it. I can't wait to slather some on a still warm, buttery, fresh from the oven scone on one of my sugar days.
So in my book, this homestead abundance jam experiment is a total win!
Rhubarb Rose Jam
Rose Syrup
6 cups fresh rose petals
1 cup sugar
1 cup waterPour water and sugar into a stock pot, stir and bring to a boil. After the mixture boils and the sugar dissolves, stir in rose petals and remove from heat. I take the back of a spoon and crush the petals a bit. Let mixture sit for at least 30 minutes and pour through a wire mesh strainer. Set aside, compost the petals.
The Jam:
5 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 lbs rhubarb (10-12 big stalks)
1.75 ounce box of pectinSlice and dice the rhubarb nice and fine, add rhubarb and rose syrup to a stock pot and bring mixture to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and boil for two minutes.
Stir in pectin, turn up the heat and bring the pot to a full boil, while stirring constantly. Boil hard for one minute, then add the sugar. Bring the mixture back to a hard rolling boil, while stirring constantly and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
Ladle jam in to sterilized jars and process accordingly in a water bath canner. Enjoy on things like a happy homesteader!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's fragrant and containing far more rose and rhubarb jam pictures than most would consider proper,iPhone.
