Rhubarb Peach Jam

This is the post that Jessica has been waiting for.  A canning recipe.  Saturday was a cool day, The Boy went to an air show with his father.  Sunshine busied herself with Playmobil, reading and in the end, helping.  So that made it the perfect day for a canning blitz.  First up, something with rhubarb.  After much research and deliberation, I decided on a Rhubarb Peach Jam with no pectin.  I also made Strawberry Jam from berries that we picked and froze about a month ago and Blueberry Peach Jam.

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Saturdays, our little town has its own little farm market.  There are only a few vendors which meant I ended up hitting the two local roadside stands as well.  One for blueberries and peaches and a different one for the rhubarb.  In the winter, however, all the effort of driving around is worth while and forgotten.

If you read my post on Rhubarb Crisp, you may remember that I mentioned Rhubarb Jam was one of my first forays into canning.  This was pre-internet, because let’s face it, I’m no spring chicken.  I wanted to make rhubarb jam, not strawberry-rhubarb, but just plain rhubarb.  I scoured my mother’s cookbooks.  In addition, I must have spent some time looking at the library because I have a hand written jam recipe on yellowed paper that simply says for each quart of fruit, use 3 cups of sugar and cook until it reaches between 218-222 degrees (F).  It also lists the fruits and they are all higher acid and higher in their own pectin content.

My husband was not too keen on plain rhubarb jam, so I did some research and looked through all my cookbooks on canning.  I knew that I didn’t want to do strawberry which meant blueberry or peach.  I decided on peach.

Rhubarb Peach Jam

In keeping with the instructions that I had, I knew that I wanted 4 cups of fruit.  I had a bundle of rhubarb, but had no idea how much it actually was.  I cut it and discovered that I had just about three cups.  And 3:1 ratio seemed to make sense, so I proceeded to cut and peel two peaches which brought me up to 4 cups of fruit.

Prepare

Next, I got the jars ready.  This gave me an opportunity to use my new Ball Canning Set from Christmas.  Yes, I got a canning set for for Christmas because that’s what I asked for.  At the time, my husband protested.  “That’s not a Christmas present.  It’s too practical.”  But I insisted because I needed it (the one I got used from my mother rusted through–it was old), wanted it and knew I wouldn’t buy it for myself.  Oh, and it came with tools I didn’t already have like a magnetic lid puller a tool to measure head space and a can lifter (I usually just use tongs).

Wash and sterilize the jars for at least 10 minutes in a hot water bath.  Generally, I get the jars ready, put them in the canner and then leave them in the boiling water until I need them.  Sometimes they are in there for 10 minutes; sometimes it’s an hour!  Put lids in a small sauce pan with the water on a low heat.  Wash and dry screw bands and set them aside.

Cook

Add fruit and sugar to the pot.  Bring to a hard boil on high heat and wait from it to come to temperature.

It took much longer than I anticipated for it to get to 218 degrees Fahrenheit, probably 30 minutes or more.  I didn’t pull it off until 220 degrees because I wanted to be sure.  In a jam cookbook, I read that you will know it’s getting close when you can pull the spoon through the mixture and it leaves a trail.

When the jam comes to temperature, pour it into sterilized jars, leaving a1/4 inch of head space.  Skim any foam.  Use a wet cloth to wipe any spills from the jar.  Add lids and screw bands to finger tight.

Process

Process the jam for 10 minutes in a hot water bath.  This batch of rhubarb peach jam made 2 pints.  I put mine into two 8 ounce jars (half pints) and four 4 ounce jars (quarter pints).  The 4 ounce jars make great teacher gifts at Christmas, so with each batch of jam or jelly that I make, I always fill 4 or more 4 ounce jars to give as gifts.

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