Raspberry rhubarb jam. There is nothing besides that sentence that I could say to give this jam the justice it deserves. The most unique and delicious jam you will ever have. I am so excited to have made it this year and now to share it with you. This is a must make jam in this Summer canning season. Get yourself some fresh or frozen raspberries an rhubarb and meet me in the next paragraph for this amazing raspberry rhubarb jam recipe to make its way to your shelves.
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Equipment Needed to Make Jams
Making jam requires a few kitchen must have’s for both freezing and canning the product. To make it easy I am going to go through each item with you for both processing styles. In general you need a big pot to cook the jam down in, a potato smasher, measuring cups, and a wooden stirring spoon. This is stuff we generally have around the home making it super accessible for the majority of people to begin making jams at home. Though you probably are included in the number of people that have these products I have a few of my favorite below for inspiration. Click whatever catches your eye for the Amazon link!
Preserving Jam by Freezing
Next, is how you choose to preserve the jam. This is either by freezing it or canning it in a water bath. The only extra items you need to preserve jam is containers to freeze them in (and of course the space). There is a lot of options for freezer containers, but I always recommend using ones that save space. Generally no bulky or strange shaped containers. Even round containers don’t maximize the freezer room.
There is primarily one type of container that I have in my freezer, it is the only plastic we preserve in besides occasional ziplocks. Below is the link to them. They are thin, dishwasher safe, they maximize space, stack nicely, and are easy to label. Besides all of those points they are also super inexpensive compared to most other freezer safe containers on the market. I do use lots of mason jars in the freezer as well, though they aren’t as space saving!
Preserving Jam through Canning
Secondly, you can preserve your jam through canning. This is my go to for jams and jellies. But this does require lots more Equipment. To can jam you need a water bath (with all of it’s utensils), a canning “How-To” book, and mason jars of the correct size. For jams you always get smaller jars. Amazon is a great resource for finding everything you need to can jam with. Most of the items for canning come in bundles so you know that you are not forgetting or missing any item it takes to can. When I was making this raspberry rhubarb jam recipe one of our canning tools broke and I am headed right to Amazon to replace the set. This simply ensures you have what it takes! Below are a few examples, you can click the pictures to go to the links.
Having these things will set you up to can a variety of foods! And once you know that you have a way to store the jam it’s time to prep your food items and start making it.
Grocery List for the Raspberry Rhubarb Jam Recipe
There is just five ingredients to this jam recipe, all of which you can purchase online (except for the fresh or frozen produce), but even better you can find these five items in almost any grocery or drug store.
- Lemon Juice
- Powdered Pectin
- Granulated Sugar
- Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- Rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
Related Post: The Best Applesauce Recipe with Just Four Ingredients
The Story of Our Raspberries and Rhubarb
We have rented our home and we have for two years now. The first year we were there we did basically nothing with our backyard. It had a large dirt plot that stood out like a sore thumb, millions of weeds, overgrown and under pruned raspberries and an apricot tree that was dying. This year I began turning this space into a garden. We put in the care and effort towards our raspberry bushes and pruning and thinning out and the abundance we have is incredible. (We talked more about how to care for the bushes on our Instagram here.)
It really paid off to put in so much work towards them in the Spring. The beautiful bush that stands before us now is proof that our plants just often need a little tending. Working the garden this year has reminded me so much of Genesis 3 where God tells Adam that it is through weeds and thorns that he will tend to the earth, by the sweat of his brow. I think that, though this was a part of the curse, it also has so much beauty in it. Tending to the earth, putting in months of work for a beautiful garden. I think that God has put redemption throughout all of life including the ways in which we were cursed before.
The rhubarb is a fun story as well. We had one plant at the beginning of Summer and a friend who told us that we could use hers this year if we wanted to. She did this for us last year as well. We were so excited of course, but not too long after that she actually asked if we would uproot it all and take it! So now we have pots on pots of rhubarb growing which is incredible and they multiply. So by next year we should have a lot to preserve and share.
These stories both show the ways in which Christ blesses us, provides for us, and cares for us. He knows the things that touch our hearts the most. Then He blesses accordingly, and doing this, He knows how much it will mean to us. It seriously means so much to me. Having practically free food from the Lord. How are ways He has blessed you this gardening season?
Now, are you ready for this raspberry rhubarb jam recipe? It’s beyond wonderful. Let’s get into it!
Raspberry Rhubarb Jam Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 ½ Cups Raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 2 Cups Chopped Rhubarb
- 3-7 Cups Granulated Sugar this is solely flavor based and isn’t a major component in how the jam turns out. You can also substitute with honey (around three cups).
- 1 Package Fruit Pectin (I always use the 1.75 OZ powdered pectin)
- 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Before beginning be sure to place a large towel (double layered) on the counter space and pot holder for the jars and the warm pot of jam for later in the process. Set this up before starting so you don’t have to worry about it while making the jam. If you aren’t canning them you do not need the towel. But you will still need to place the pot holder out. This is also the time to fill your water bath and place it on high on the stove.
- If you are canning the jam place a small pot on the stove with water. Turn it to medium high heat and place all the jar lids in the water to prepare them for canning. Also take the time to pre place all of the jars out on the towel that you put on the counter. This will make it easier to fill them once the jam is done and ready to be canned.
- Begin by placing all the fruit in a big pot to put on the stove.
- You can put it on low heat as you add the lemon juice, the powdered pectin and the sugar to the pot. You can add the sugar in all at once, though some people say to add half at first and then half later. This really doesn’t matter a lot as long as it all ends up in the pot at the end and all of the sugar is dissolved and has been brought to a boil.
- After this turn the stove up to medium high. Stirring frequently as the heat rises to make sure that nothing is burning to the bottom of the pot.
- Continue to stir often and bring the pot to a boil. Allow to boil for four minutes. Keep stirring the pot even if it doesn’t stir down. It is okay and good for the pot to boil to the point that it isn’t stirring down.
- Take it off of the heat immediately after boiling for four minutes. Put it on the pot holder you placed out.
- If you are canning then you can immediately begin filling the jars with the jam. Fill until there is about 1/2 inch of space left on the top of each jar. Then wipe the top of the jar off, place the lids and the rings. Do not over tighten the rings. IF YOU ARE NOT CANNING skip this step and the next two.
- Next check to make sure that the water bath is boiling. Carefully place the jams in the water bath (with correct tools). Keep them in the water bath for ten minutes (make the proper adjustments based on your elevation).
- Once the ten minutes are up carefully place each jar of jam onto the towel you laid out earlier. Do not tilt the jars, keep them upright the whole time. You will place them on the towel and leave them for 24 hours. Do not touch them or remove the rings or write on them until it has been 24 hours. After the 24 hours make sure that they sealed by checking the top of the lids to make sure they went down. You should also know that they have because after taking them out of the water bath they should make a loud popping noise. This is your first indicator that they are sealing. But always check after the 24 hours that they did seal properly. If they sealed remove the rings, they are ready to be put away. If they did not seal they need to be used within a week or so- or rescanned with a different lid.
- If you are not canning you can wait for the jam to begin cooling down and fill freezer safe containers with the jam. Wait until it is entirely cooled to place it in the freezer.
- Before storing remember to label your jam with the name and date! After this store ore enjoy immediately!
We hope you majorly enjoy this recipe as much as we do. I can’t imagine this ever coming off of our favorites list. Let me know if you try it, have any questions or what your favorite jam recipe is!
