Freezer Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Skip canning entirely and switch to this recipe for freezer strawberry rhubarb jam. This recipe best captures that quintessential Spring flavor into a jar, using only fresh strawberries, rhubarb, and low sugar – and no other unnecessary ingredients or processes. No more dark and dull colored jams from lengthy cooking and canning – only sparkly jars full of fresh, bright, rosy-red jam! But before freezing – eat some of it while it’s warm and melty. Because who wants to put up all of that sparkly glistening jam without enjoying some first?!
A New Take on Freezer Jam
Many freezer jam recipes still call for high sugar content, pectin, lengthy cook times, and then boiling the jarred jam for a whole nother 10 minutes to safely can it for shelf storage. Some recipes call for a food processor and adding pectin to gel up the jam (why do I despise cleaning these kitchen gadgets so much?). It’s a lot of requirements, sugar, ingredients, and gear. Just give me a pan, fruit, and a little sugar.
If jam is going in the freezer and not the cupboard, and berries already have a considerable amount of pectin, then let’s simplify the jam process. Cut out pectin and canning entirely and switch to freezer jam! On its own, fruit lightly cooked with sugar already gels up a bit, so there’s no real need to set it with pectin unless you want a hard jelly. I find an unset jam to have more dish versatility, which allows me the most options when pulling a jar out of the freezer (i.e. melty hot jam on top of ice cream).
Deep Color
The absolute beauty of this recipe is that the jam doesn’t get dark and dull from the 10-minute boil required by canning recipes – so the jam colors are bright and deep and gemstone-colored. They truly glisten. And while food is for eating, I can’t help but feel joy and contentment over food that is also just so darned beautiful.
How to Cook Freezer Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
In this recipe, we’ll gently cook chopped strawberries and rhubarb with a small amount of sugar in a pan (to more like a compote). Lightly cooking fresh fruit with sugar deepens the flavor of the fruit while maintaining its brightness and freshness. Think of this recipe as the medium rare steak of jams.
Gather some perfectly in-season strawberries (Swanton strawberries are truly a gift from the strawberry gods) and rhubarb that are bursting with flavor and deep color, and capture the season’s magical window into a jar.
Enjoy some of the warm jam right away, over ice cream or a buttery dutch baby or freshly baked bread with butter – and then freeze the rest in tempered jars or containers with at least 1” head space (space at the top) to enjoy later! Be sure to leave the head space or the jam won’t have room for expansion in the freezer, and the jar may crack.
Thawing Freezer Jam
Simply thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Give a stir before using. It’s that simple!
Green Rhubarb
Whether green and red rhubarb taste the same is a heated debate. If I’m buying rhubarb, I’m more attracted to the deep red stems and will choose those. If I’m using what’s in my garden, it tends to be greener because I live in a foggy and windy climate where we don’t usually get the cold snap that helps the red rhubarb variety get deeply red. It tastes the same to me, so I use both.
Growing Rhubarb to Cook With
When I went to Mongolia, rhubarb grew natively all across the countryside. I was in awe, since it’s not the easiest edible perennial to grow in a drought-prone area, right across from the golden gate bridge where winds and fog whip through regularly.
If you’re in a temperate climate like me, you need a low-chill variety like Red Cherry, Giant Cherry, or Strawberry. Plant the crown a little high becasue it’s sensitive to root rot. Rhubarb needs plenty of manure every year as it’s a heavy feeder. It also likes water in the Summer when it’s hot. When harvesting, never cut the stems or the remaining stub will rot the root crown. Twist and pull stem to remove the entire stem, without uprooting the whole plant. A few stems go a long way in a dish, so one plant per family is likely plenty!
And remember — the leaves of rhubarb are poisonous, so only use the stem.
Equipment
- A few small temper-proof jars with lids for freezing (brands like Ball, Weck, Quattro Stagioni). About 4-6 four-ounce jars, or 2-3 eight-ounce jars.
- 1 canning funnel (not necessary, but handy).
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups strawberries chopped
- 1 cup rhubarb chopped
- 3 Tbsp sugar (I use Sucanat)
Instructions
- Chop strawberries and rhubarb stems, and put them in a 1-inch pan.
- Add the sugar, and turn on heat to medium-low.
- Simmer fruit until it softens slightly, and until the juices from the fruit bleed and mix with the sugar, about 10 minutes.
- Use a canning funnel to spoon jam into jars, leaving 1/2" – 1" head space at the top of the jar, to prevent the glass jar from breaking. You can also just throw it all into a tupperware — whatever amount you can thaw later and eat up before going bad.
- Set some aside to eat now – on top of fresh bread, a plain cake, or a dutch baby!