Receta Roasted strawberry-rhubarb jam
There's a ton of rhubarb in my garden.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to inherit part of divided rhubarb patch that one of my neighbors was giving away. Given that I had only gotten turned on to rhubarb the year before, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the harvest.
After today, I will never again worry about that because I have discovered roasted rhubarb jam.
And now I wish I had more, more, MORE rhubarb in my garden, perhaps an entire garden of just rhubarb, simply so I could make jar after jar of this jam. It is that good.
Oh, and did I mention absurdly easy? Set-it-and-forget-it easy? No pectin or lemon juice easy?
Yep, that easy.
Many thanks to Aimee from Homemade Trade for putting this in my path -- I overlooked it last year when she originally posted it, as part of the Cook It! 2012 challenge in which we both participated (and were the only finishers, along with our hostess, Caroline of Grow It Cook It Can It). What a mistake on my part!
My only modification to Aimee's recipe (which she in turn got from In Jennie's Kitchen) was to add some half-thawed strawberries from last year's haul; you probably have fresh strawberries in season right now where you live, but we're still a little ways away from that here in northern Vermont.
So, are you ready to be amazed? Here it is:
Trim and chop about 1 1/2 pounds of rhubarb. Toss the rhubarb with a half pound of sliced strawberries and a cup of sugar in an 11 x 17 glass baking dish and roast for half an hour at 400 degrees. Once the dish comes out of the oven, mash it all up with a potato masher and let it cool (it gets thicker as it cools). Done.
This version yields about 3 half pint jars, so if you want less (you won't, trust me), you can simply half the recipe. But don't; you'll regret it. It is the perfect blend of tart and sweet.
You can keep the jam in the refrigerator for a few weeks or process it in a waterbath canner for longer shelf life. So you can make jam muffins with it. Or give it as a gift.
Trust me, this is one hell of a gift. You can give some to me anytime.