Rhubarb & Ginger Jam - well it was about time!

Long overdue, I'd say!

Having occurred to me that I had yet to blog anything Rhubarb & Ginger flavoured - if ever there was a missed opportunity, it's that one - I resolved to do something about that.

Now Ruby is, as ever, on a mission to take over our little garden - so I had no shortage of rhubarb.  In fact, we've had to crop her once and there was so much of it we gave rhubarb to all the neighbours whether they wanted it or not.

Sugary rhubarby promise of jam

Ruby 2 has yet to be cropped, but she's now in "young adult" stage and I can see that we're going to have to take a crop from her very soon - if we want to be able to see down the garden, that is.

I had taken the pinkest and prettiest stems from the crop to make jam with.  It's worth being colour-ist in this way if you're going to be making jam, because it's so much nicer to have a pretty pink jam, than a slightly muddy greenish jam.  Save the greenish stems for a nice pie, or maybe a crumble.

It had been a while since I'd made any Small Batch Jam and I'd completely forgotten the details as to how, but the trusty blog came to the rescue and here I give details on what to do.

Hotter than Eva Longoria modelling lingerie

I set to and washed the rhubarb, then cut it into jam-sized pieces.  I knew that I wanted the jam to retain some of the tartness of the rhubarb, plus I wanted to use some of the stem ginger syrup from the jar, so reduced the amount of sugar by around a quarter.  It always seems to me to be such a waste to throw away that beautiful gingery syrup that stem ginger comes with - and including it in jam is a perfect way of using it.

I was also aware of the fact that I didn't want the heat of the jam's cooking process to affect the flavour of the ginger pieces.  They would be cut so small, I felt it would be easy for them to become overcooked in the process if I added them from the beginning.  I'm not sure if ginger's flavour does change if it is overcooked, but imagine it would do.  Most things taste different if overcooked!  So, although I added the syrup at the beginning, I opted not to add the ginger pieces until the very end.  It was a bit of a gamble, I will admit - but one which happily paid off as the ginger flavour was pronounced but not overpowering to the rhubarb.  Gorgeous!

I've just passed some of this jam on to my Mum & Dad (as ever, I made too much!) and are waiting to hear how they like it.  I'm hoping they'll enjoy it, as we like it a lot.  I have to admit that we've even used it like a compote and added a couple of teaspoonfuls to a bowl of vanilla ice cream.  Now that really was delicious.

As ever with small batch jam, you can't keep it out of the fridge as the pots aren't sterilised.  However, if you want to sterilise your pots, you would be able to keep it sealed for as long as any jam can be kept.

It's undoubtedly the season for jam, plus scones - and maybe hot buttered toast and jam with a cup of steaming tea on those rainy days.  Personally, I think the satisfaction of knowing that I made the jam is very definitely worth every second of the short time it takes to make.

SMALL BATCH RHUBARB & GINGER JAM

Ingredients :

sticks of the pinkest rhubarb you can find - I used 8 or 9 large sticks
granulated sugar
stem ginger pieces - I used 5 walnut sized pieces (from a jar, not fresh)
3-4 tbsp ginger syrup from the jar.

Method :

1.  Wash and slice your rhubarb into smallish chunks.

2.  Weigh the rhubarb and take note of its weight.

3.  Place the rhubarb into a suitably sized non-reactive saucepan add 1tbsp of water and begin to heat on a high heat.

4.  Weigh out slightly less than the weight of the rhubarb, in sugar.  For instance, if you have 400g of rhubarb, I'd use around 310g of sugar.

5.  Once the rhubarb has begun to sizzle, is looking juicy and like it is beginning to soften, add the sugar and the ginger syrup.  It is worthwhile not adding the sugar until the fruit has begun to soften, as if there is a lack of liquid in the saucepan you can wind up with caramel beginning to happen, which can taint the flavour of the jam.  If your rhubarb appears dry, simply add a little more water.

6.  As the rhubarb cooks and the sugar dissolves, stir regularly to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pan.  Burnt rhubarb isn't very nice.

7.  Quickly chop the stem ginger pieces into a mixture of sizes - the largest of which should be no bigger than a quarter of a teaspoon.

8.  The jam will boil, at which point you need to take care not to connect with it as it is hotter than the surface of the sun (or seems like it) at this moment.  A long handled wooden spoon is to be recommended, for stirring with.

9.  Allow the jam to boil, as you need to cook off the majority of the water from the fruit.  How long this process takes depends entirely upon how much jam you're making.  For the ingredients I used, above, it took around 15-20 minutes.  You'll know when you are getting close to "jam", as the feel of the stirring will change.  Each pass of the spoon will become easier as the mixture changes from slightly granular to smooth glossiness.

10.  At this stage, get ready a metal spoon and a saucer of cold water.

11.  Once the jam has reached your preferred thickness - and is feeling glossy - drip a little into the metal spoon and see how easily it runs.  If you're doubtful still, drip a little into the water on the saucer.  Does it set quickly?  Can you run a finger through it without it dispersing into the water?

12.  Once the jam is demonstrating that it is setting well, remove from the heat and stir in the ginger pieces.  Set aside and allow to cool.

13.  Once at a safer temperature, decant into your pot of choice and put some bread into the toaster.  Well, you have to taste test your recipe, don't you?

Printable version
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Small batch jam making - you can do it, too!

Plum Jam

For people like us, who love the taste of home-made jam but who cannot justify (both in expenditure and calories) making pots and pots of the stuff, the revelation that is "small batch jam making" is almost life changing. Although, I have to admit that why I didn't think of just making a small amount of jam instead of huge vats of the stuff, I really don't know - it all seems so obvious now.

One punnet (400g) of British plums

Anyway, if you've got a punnet of fruit that you don't know what to do with, plus a half hour and some sugar, then a pot of delicious jam can be yours.

For instance. I was in the supermaket collecting the weekly haul of ingredients, when I noticed a decent sized punnet of British plums for £1. Immediately they caught my eye, but I hesitated because I am really the only one of the three of us who will eat a raw plum. Then the lightbulb switched itself on and I remembered the small batch jam. Just the job!

The first job, after washing them and removing their stalks, is to remove their stones and cut them into quarters. You don't really want them any bigger than that, otherwise you'll wind up with huge sheets of plum skin wafting around in your jam.

Starting to bubble

Then, weigh your fruit and put it into a saucepan. Next, weigh out an equivalent - or less, if you like your jam zingy - amount of sugar and include that in the pan with the fruit. The last batch I made was rhubarb and ginger jam, and I did that on a 3 parts fruit : 1 part sugar basis, which worked fine. Add a tablespoon of water or fruit juice to the pan and turn the heat up to high.

Bubbling away like crazy

You will need to be attentive in your stirring of the pot, mainly to keep everything moving so that it doesn't stick to the pan and burn, but also to keep the sides pulled in so as to prevent sugar crystals from forming.

Bubbling nicely

As you stir and as the potion bubbles, you'll begin to notice that the "feel" of the jam is beginning to change to a more slippery, less grainy, sensation.  This is your cue to try a little drip - either into a saucer of cold water, or onto a cold metal spoon.  If the jam thickens and doesn't run (or dissolve, in the case of the saucer of water), then it's time to take it off of the heat and allow it to cool slightly before decanting into your pot.

 

Rhubarb & ginger jam

In this instance, there's no need to fiddle around sterilising the pot, or providing little greaseproof layers for the surface.  The truth is that the jam just isn't going to be around for long enough to warrant worrying about it going off.  *grin*  Kept in a fridge, it should last as long as it needs to - until the last spoonful is used up on a piece of hot buttered toast.

 

 

Wet Sunday entertainment

It's being a filthy day, today.  So bad that the poor old Bournemouth Air Festival flights are rapidly being cancelled hand over fist.  The big boys like the F-16 and the Typhoon need something like 1500ft of clear space beneath the cloud base - and currently we've got 300ft!  Not good.  So you can imagine how grey and miserable it is out there.

In here, however, it's warm and cosy with the smell of Brunch Muffins and Rhubarb & Ginger jam in the air.  Is there anything nicer (apart from going out for some delicious lunch experience somewhere), than setting to in the kitchen on a grey, wet day?  I don't think so.

Laura's home-grown eggs

My dear friend Laura gifted me with six lovely fresh eggs yesterday, from her back garden hens.  They are always such a treat, they immediately set me to thinking about what I can use them in.

Having just seen the recipe for the Brunch Muffins on UK Food Bloggers Association's site, see here, they were first on my agenda and have turned out to be a glorious muffiny treat on the tongue, perfect with a cup of coffee or, indeed, for brunch!

The rhubarb & ginger jam is episode two of my small batch jam making experiment.  The rhubarb came from the garden and is guaranteed to be good - although the erstwhile triffid that was the rhubarb patch is now starting to look more than a bit plundered.  I can't bear to think that it will stop growing soon!  I worked on a ratio of 3:1, fruit to sugar, this time.  The resulting jam is setting beautifully and tastes just gorgeously zingy.  Just the job to wake the tastebuds up in the morning.  *grin*  I can't wait to try!