Who doesn't remember sitting on the porch on summer evenings, dipping a stalk of rhubarb into a bowl of sugar? I suppose there are people who don’t like rhubarb, but I don’t know any. The tart flavour seems universally loved.
This jam is one of my favourites - there is something about the honey and rosemary that adds a huge depth of flavour to the jam. I love it on bread but also stirred into plain yogurt. You can also eat it as a condiment with chicken or pork. If you want to bake a matrimonial cake but aren’t nuts about dates, this makes a great filling.
Ingredients:
1 pound chopped rhubarb (1/2 kilo)
1 ½ cups sugar (300 g)
3 ½ ounces honey (100 gm)
Juice 1 small lemon
5 sprigs rosemary
Directions:
Cut rhubarb into small dice. Macerate the rhubarb, the sugar and the juice of one lemon overnight, stirring a couple of times. The next day, sieve and pour juice into a sauce pan. Add the rest of the lemon juice, the honey and the rosemary. Cook to 214 degrees (at Calgary altitude). Or reduce the volume by about half if you don’t have a thermometer. I take the rosemary out at this point because if it’s not really fresh, the spears will come off the stalk and you’ll spend a lot of time fishing them out of the jam.
Now, add the diced rhubarb and cook gently till set. It will be quite thick with little liquid and bubble like molten lava. Do not stop stirring – it burns easily. Fish out the Rosemary before jarring. Place in a jar that you have washed in hot, soapy water and put in the oven for 10 minutes at 250o F. Let cool on the counter, then refrigerate.