Easy Rhubarb Jam Recipe
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This easy-to-make rhubarb jam recipe has just three ingredients, including pink-stemmed rhubarb. It’s more delicate in flavor than summer rhubarb and gives this preserve its beautiful red color. This recipe makes five half-pint jars, but you can scale the recipe to make more.
Spring rhubarb is the earliest homegrown treat, but it only lasts a short while. After spring, you’ll need to wait another year to taste it again, so while the stems are red, you should make red rhubarb jam. This sweet, soft-set jam recipe can be spooned over pancakes, desserts, ice cream, and buttered bread. This recipe will make four small jars, so if you’d like more, double (or triple!) the amounts.
The first rhubarb of the year is a true spring treat! It’s more tender, redder in color, and has a more delicate flavor than summer rhubarb. This is even more true if you grow or buy ‘forced’ rhubarb. It’s the pale pink-stemmed rhubarb that you can only get in spring. It can be expensive, but if you have a rhubarb plant, you can place an upended pot or bucket over the plant in winter. Leave it there until early spring, and harvest the sweet red stalks as early as February. You’ll need to take the covering off completely in April, and don’t force the same plant two years in a row. That way, the plant doesn’t get stressed.
Easy Rhubarb Jam Recipe
You’ll want to use that tender pink-stemmed rhubarb to make this recipe. It gives the pretty pink color to rhubarb jam, but it’s also less acidic than summer rhubarb. Once you make it, rhubarb jam has a shelf life of one year, setting you up for rhubarb all year long. To make it, you only need three ingredients: rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice. The lemon juice provides enough pectin to set, and as long as you use pink spring rhubarb, the jam won’t be too tart.
You’ll also need a few basic kitchen items to make rhubarb jam. I’ve listed them below, along with instructions on water-bathing the jars. I highly encourage water-bathing, but living in the British Isles, I know many people don’t. I explain more about why it’s important in the recipe notes.
More Rhubarb Inspiration
Easy Rhubarb Jam Recipe
Equipment
- jam jars and lids (I'm using Tattler lids)
- candy thermometer (or frozen plate)
- water bath canner (or large deep pot)
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs red rhubarb stems (1 kg)
- 5 cups white sugar (2.2 lbs / 1 kg)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice (85 g / you can use 1/4 cup for a softer set)
Instructions
The Evening Before Making Jam
- Rinse the rhubarb stems in cool water and then trim the leaves and the bottom of the stems. Slice the stems into 1/2" pieces and place them in a large pan. Pour the sugar over the rhubarb and stir to cover all the pieces. Cover and then let sit overnight, either on the counter or in the refrigerator.
- Overnight, the sugar will have drawn the juices out of the rhubarb, and the pieces may look slightly shriveled. Pulling the juice out of the rhubarb will help keep the pieces from falling apart completely in the jam-making process.
Preparation
- Before making rhubarb jam, sterilize your jars, lids, and rings. You can run them through the dishwasher or wash them with hot, soapy water. If choosing the latter, make sure to rinse them well and dry them with a clean tea towel.
- If you don't have a candy thermometer, put a small plate in the freezer. Later, you'll need it to test the jam's setting point.
Make Rhubarb Jam
- Place the pan on your hob and bring to a boil. Add the lemon juice and stir carefully, trying not to break up the pieces.
- Reduce the heat and keep the jam boiling until it reaches the setting point. It should take around twenty minutes, and keep stirring gently during this time. You know you've reached setting point when the jam is 220°F (104°C). If you don't have a candy thermometer, you can use the dribble test.
- Dribble a half-teaspoon of jam on the frozen plate you prepared earlier. Wait about thirty seconds for it to cool, and then push it with your finger. If it's clearly firm or starts crinkling up, it's time to move on to the next step. If it's still liquid, you need to boil for longer.
- Spoon the jam into clean, sterilized jars and screw the lids on fully but not super tight. This is called finger-tight. A funnel helps keep the jam from spilling all over the jar while spooning it in.
- You can now leave the jars undisturbed on the counter to seal or continue with the safer step of water bathing the jars*. Water bath canning is only recommended for purpose-made canning jars and lids, such as Mason or Kilner jars.
Water Bathing the Jars
- Ensure the water covers the jars by about an inch and that there is at least half an inch of space between them. The jars should not touch the sides of the pan.
- Wait for the water to come back to a boil. Then, set a timer for 10 minutes.
- After the time is up, carefully lift the jars back out and set them on a towel on the kitchen counter. Leave them for at least 12 hours to cool down. With metal lids, you'll hear pops as the lids seal. Tattler lids don't make this sound, so don't worry if you don't hear anything.
- When cooled, store in a cool cupboard but refrigerate after opening. This jam has a shelf life of 12 months.
Thank you <3
Most welcome!
Wondering what you mean by “only lasts a short while”? Are you referring only to the spring rhubarb? That I get, but otherwise, I harvest for well over four months. I live in Minnesota where the rule is to harvest in any month that doesn’t contain an “r”. I don’t adhere strictly to that advice. I start pulling stalks in late ApRil as soon as they have reached an acceptable height, probably 8″ or so, then work at finding someone, anyone, to take the unending production of stalks at the outsides of the plant that have to either be harvested, or pulled and composted. By SeptembeR, the quality of the stalks is definitely not like the early harvest, but I have still used it to make rhubarb custard desserts as a last hurrah.
Rhubarb is almost a weed the way it grows and spreads. One year I divided a root into clumps, but couldn’t find spots for the divisions. It snowed and froze before I could get them in the ground. Come spring, even the above ground roots were producing leaves and stalks. Those root clumps continued to grow in the compost bin. The rhubarb had such a will to live that I gave up on trying to dispose of it and stuffed it into spots at the edge of the lot line.
Spring rhubarb is also called forced rhubarb and red right the way through the stem. The ‘r’ rule for harvesting rhubarb isn’t one that’s necessarily true. Depending on your climate, you can begin harvesting the stems as soon as they’re up! We also stop harvesting the stems not based on ‘r’ months but based on how much time the plant needs to recover from being harvested. Rhubarb needs the summer to build up resources for the following year. I don’t harvest from my plants after the beginning of summer—late June.
I guess it only lasts a short while as it gets eaten so quickly!
After your first batch of rhubarb has been pulled, keep watering the plant and you will have more rhubarb coming up. I water and get 3 batches in the spring and summer. Rhubarb loves water. Ann I live in the USA (NY State)
In have a lot of rhubarb that I have frozen can I do this with it.
Yes, you can if the rhubarb is less than a year old. If it’s pink-stemmed, it will come out perfectly. If it’s summer, rhubarb and green it can be more tangy. If your frozen rhubarb is more than a year old, it’s not the best quality and should be rotated out of your storage.
Looks great. You should try Marionberry or Tayberry jam.
I’ve never tried either berry but I’ll keep an eye out for plants!