Strawberry Rhubarb Jam (Butter)

Jam or Jelly is a summer staple to make every year. Each dollop of a home canned jar of Strawberry Jam, Grape Jelly, Cantaloupe Peach Butter, or any of kind of fruity treat is a reminder of the freshness of summer…even if it’s blizzarding outside. And you can do so many different things with jam, it’s not just for toast or biscuits! You could put it in a fruit parfait, on top of a bowl of cottage cheese, as a topping for New York Cheesecake, or even the filling for Homemade Toaster Strudels.

Did you gather a bounty of strawberries and rhubarb this summer? You can use both of mix up some of this yummy Strawberry Rhubarb Jam! This recipe isn’t actually a jar, technically it’s a butter. The difference is that a butter does not use pectin, instead it’s cooked for a longer period of time so the sugars thicken it instead. I prefer making butters over jams just because I never seem to be able to make a jam set up properly, or it gets to hard. And honestly I’m not one for big chunks of jams and jellies on my foods, I like a nice even spread.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

What You Need:

• 1 pound strawberries, washed/hulled/diced into small pieces
• 1 pound rhubarb stalks, washed/diced into small pieces
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

1. As listed in the ingredients above, I recommend washing/hulling/dicing about 1 pound of strawberries. You can use half that amount if you don’t want to make a lot. You will need to wash and dice your rhubarb as well.

2. Place all of your diced strawberries and rhubarb into a large bowl with your sugar. Allow to sit for 1 – 48 hours. The longer it sits, the more juices you get. But 1 hour is still good!

3. Bring a small bowl/skillet of water to a boil. Pour your strawberries and rhubarb into the water, over high heat.

4. Allow to boil rapidly for up to 12 minutes, or until really thick.

5. Remove your pan from heat, and fill your prepared jam jars/bowls. Let them cool for about an hour or so. 

6. Serve with toast, biscuits or substitute wherever you use jelly!

Then you can either store in the fridge (should last about 4 weeks) or to preserve for the winter you can preserve your Strawberry Rhubarb Jam!

According to Putting Food By, to can Strawberry Rhubarb Jam you just need to pack in pints, quarts, or jelly jars and hot water bath process for 15 minutes. Make sure to leave 1/2 inch headspace in your jars and follow all regular canning procedures. (Wipe rims before adding the lids, don’t touch the tops after processed, make sure your jars are sealed after 12 hours.)

Have more rhubarb to use? Try this awesome Rhubarb Crumble Recipe or these Rhubarb Smoothies!

Make sure you check out all the free Canning and Preserving Recipes we have on Little House Living! And don’t forget to check out The Canner’s Cookbook, it has recipes on how to use all your home canned goods!

I recommend a Presto Pressure Canner and the book Putting Food By for all your canning projects!

Do you make Strawberry Rhubarb Jam? What is your favorite jam to make or can?