Raspberry rhubarb jam

This raspberry rhubarb jam is bright, fruity and delicious. It's easy to make with just four ingredients and has a wonderful texture and sweet tart flavor. A great way to enjoy rhubarb when in season and perfect on toast and more.

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I grew up with rhubarb growing round the back of our garage and have many memories of it being added into crumbles or snacking on young, tender stems dipped in sugar. While it took me a few years, I've grown to realize I have a soft spot for rhubarb so look out for it each spring to get my fix of rhubarb fool, strawberry rhubarb crisp and more.

Despite the fact my mum made jams often, she didn't tend to add rhubarb in them. I guess it wasn't an addition that was on her radar. But after making strawberry rhubarb jam a few years ago, I realized what a fantastic ingredient it is for jam. So about time to share another jam recipe that uses it.

What is rhubarb?

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable but often used in sweet preparations more like a fruit. It is a leafy vegetable but you can't actually eat the leaves - they are toxic and you should cut them off. Instead, you eat the stems. 

Rhubarb comes into season in spring, though some places grow what is called forced rhubarb which comes through earlier. It tends to be a paler pink rather than deeper red-green, and a little sweeter.

Rhubarb generally is relatively tart, but can work really well in sweet dishes as it balances out other flavors - think of it a bit like how you might use cranberries. It pairs really well with berries like strawberry, as I have done before, and also raspberries, as in this tasty jam.

Lower sugar, small batch jams

If you have tried any other jams I have shared, like my mango jam and strawberry raspberry jam, you'll know I generally make lower sugar jams in smaller batches. The two go hand in hand for me, as lower sugar can take longer to set so making a small batch helps things speed up as there's less volume. It also may not keep as well since sugar is a preservative and so having less ensures we'll use it. 

That may sound like an argument against lower sugar, but there's another reason I generally go that route. Commercial jams can have up to equal parts sugar to fruit which to me is far too much. Even higher end preserves are around 1 part sugar to 2 parts fruit.

I typically go with 1 part sugar to between 3 and 4 parts fruit. The higher proportion of fruit means you get much more of the fruit flavor rather than just sweetness which I like a lot better.

Sometimes I may not stick to the lower sugar and small batch principle quite as much, like with my Concord grape jam where you need the sugar to set. It's also a jam that makes sense to process on a larger scale. But on the whole, lower sugar jams can work really well and that's the case here, too.

Do you need to add pectin?

In short, for this recipe I don't add pectin. Some jams use added pectin to help the mixture thicken that bit more quickly and more firmly. Most fruits have a level of pectin naturally occurring in the fruit, though the levels vary from fruit to fruit. 

Typically, citrus fruits and some other fruits like apples, cranberries and quince have higher levels of pectin. Meanwhile softer fruit like strawberries, blackberries and peaches have less. 

I don't typically add pectin to the jams I make but instead use a combination of a little added lemon juice and cooking a little more, or using it a more gentle set.

One of the great things about this jam is that all of the fruit breaks down really nicely as it cooks so you have minimal preparation - you only need to slice the rhubarb so that you don't get any long stringy bits of skin. The rhubarb also gives a lovely smoothness to the texture and balances out the more seedy raspberries.

Raspberry rhubarb jam is a wonderful mix of sweet tart flavors, beautifully colored and so easy to make. It has a great texture and is perfect used on toast and whatever else you might want to spread it on. It would also be great on cookies, or other dishes you might use jam with. Definitely one to try while rhubarb is in season!

Try these other tasty jams and spreads:

• Lemon curd (bright, smooth and with a lovely lemon flavor)
• Plum jam (gently spiced, smooth and so tasty)
• Strawberry peach jam (a lovely taste of summer)
• Plus get more jam, sauce and other condiment recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

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