I’m on a mission this year to try as many rhubarb recipes as it takes to find ones that my kids just love.
While I enjoy rhubarb in just about every way you can prepare it, getting not one, not two, but all THREE kids to appreciate a rhubarb recipe has been a challenge.
I grow a massive amount of the most beautiful rhubarb you’ve ever seen. The deep, dark, ruby red kind.
But it doesn’t matter how pretty it is if it’s not being enjoyed by all.
And that means I can’t just turn every last bit of it into wine.
So in the past week, I’ve tested- and kid approved- several different recipes. Unique, fun, lovely recipes that I’m just so excited about.
The first one I’d like to share is this fabulous Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Jelly. I adapted the Pomona’s Pectin Rhubarb Jelly recipe HERE.
This post contains affiliate links.
I really wanted to make a jelly rather than a jam as my kids are a little adverse to chunks of rhubarb in jam.
Extracting the juice can be a little bit of a messy process, made much easier by using a steamer juicer. I have used this thing at least a billion times. If you deal with fruit at all, specifically needing to get the juice out of fruit for wine or jelly making, this will make your life remarkably easier. You can juice a rather large quantity of fruit, and then have the juice on hand in your refrigerator for whatever projects you might have in mind.
But don’t worry, if you don’t have a juicer, you can cook down your rhubarb and strain through a jelly bag.
Rhubarb Vanilla Bean Jelly
Ingredients
- 1 pound rhubarb *or 4 cups rhubarb juice
- 4 cups water (eliminate if using juice already extracted)
- 2 cups organic sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds only
- 2 tsp calcium water (included with Pomona's Pectin)
- 5 tsp Pomona's Pectin
Instructions
-
Prepare your calcium water by combining 1/2 tsp calcium powder with 1/2 cups water.
-
Prepare jars, lids, and bands.
-
Chop rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces and place in a small sauce pan with the 4 cups of water. (Skip this and go to step 4 if you are using a steamer juicer to extract the juice from your rhubarb). Simmer for 15 minutes or until the rhubarb has broken down completely. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer or put mixture in a jelly bag to extract all of the juice.
-
Measure 4 cups of rhubarb juice and the seeds from 1 vanilla bean into a large sauce pot. Add the calcium water and mix well.
-
Measure out your sugar into a bowl. Mix the powdered pectin into your sugar.
-
Bring juice to a full boil. Quickly stir in the sugar/pectin, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes until the mixture returns to a full boil. Remove from heat.
-
Fill hot, clean jars with the jelly, leaving 1/4" headspace. Process in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Let jars cool completely for 24 hours; check seals and store in a cool, dry, dark location.
The result is a warm, tart jelly that begs to be paired with butter on some sourdough toast. It’s wonderful.
And, most importantly, all of the kids loved it. That is, after all, the goal here.
Pur Mason reached out to me and asked if I’d like to test run some of their canning lids and rings in exchange for my honest review. Of course I said yes.
If you do any amount of canning, you well know the canning lid shortage we have experienced for the last couple of years. When our go-to brand lids were suddenly unavailable, we found cheap knock-offs flooding the sales channels in their place. Comprised of flimsy, suspect materials that I wouldn’t dare touch.
Thankfully, companies like Pur Mason came to the forefront and looked at how they could improve lids- make them better, not worse as had become the standard of other companies. And very recently, in March of 2022, they released their Next Generation Canning Lids. You can learn all about their improvements HERE.
I’ve been very pleased with these lids. No sealing issues, and are clearly of very high quality. I would definitely recommend any of my fellow canners to purchase these lids with confidence.
What are you making this season with rhubarb? I will be back soon with another recipe given two thumbs up by all of the picky small fries around here. Stay tuned.
This post contains affiliate links.
What this means is I link to a product (that I love& use and/or
recommend), and if you decide it’s something you want, I will receive a
small monetary compensation with no cost to you- just because you used
my link to find it! This helps support my blogging activities and I
thank you. Homestead on, my friends.
