Triple Take: Rhubarb, Thinking Outside the Pie
Strawberry-rhubarb pie is as common as it is delicious but we wanted to expand rhubarb’s resume in this Triple Take series.
While you can certainly can this jam in the traditional method, we found that freezing it works just as well and is a heck of a lot easier. Delicious on toast and other breakfast pastries but equally charming tucked inside a grilled cheese or Monte Cristo for lunch or dolloped over vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds rhubarb, leaves and ends trimmed and stalks cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Zest of 1 large orange
- 1 small bunch fresh thyme
- 1 lemon, cut in half and seeded
Instructions
Combine rhubarb, sugar, salt, zest and 6–10 sprigs of thyme in a large heavy-gauge, nonreactive Dutch oven or stockpot. Add juice from the lemon and add spent halves to the pot also. Mix well and refrigerate overnight.
Place pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook and stir constantly for about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring often, for another 15 minutes.
Test readiness of the jam by placing a tablespoon of jam on a chilled plate in the freezer. If jam is set when cool, it’s ready. If it still seems loose, cook over medium-low heat for another 5–10 minutes and test again. Remove from heat and remove lemon halves and thyme stems. Cool to room temperature.
Ladle the cooled jam into plastic containers leaving about 1/2 inch air space at the top of container. We added a sprig of thyme to each container for extra herbal flavor. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Keep 1 container in the refrigerator for eating now and place the rest in the freezer for later.
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