Step Into My Thimble

Rodney: You look very 1970s today.
Rodney (faking a Heidi voice): This yarn is too good for the 1970s.

He is well-trained.

Purr Kitty
Pounce Kitty
Balance Kitty
Gallop Kitty (she only gallops slowly)
Scared Kitty
M Cat
Rarfy (dog)
Mouse (he sneaks away but you catch him)

There are more. On one hand, it seems normal for 3.5 years old, but some days it’s like living in a zoo version of Sybil.

I love rhubarb. It’s one of those flavors that’s almost too much to handle, so tangy and kind of strange, but yet, weirdly satisfying. I was killing time while helping my parents can peaches yesterday, and the Ball Blue Book happened to be on the counter. It has a rhubarb-orange jam recipe in it that is like so many other conventional jam recipes, 6 cups of fruit, 7 1/2 cups of sugar. It’s no secret that I have a total sweet tooth, but as far as jams are concerned, I really want the primary flavor to be the fruit.

I decided to experiment last night with my friend Pomona’s Pectin, to see if I could come up with a tasty variant not involving that much sugar. It’s hard to know with sour rhubarb, so this was a fun project. I was aiming for something between a lemon curd and a marmalade, but without the need for a pressure canner (butter, eggs, etc. would have necessitated that).

For a bit after the jars came out of the canner, I was afraid it wouldn’t set up, but this morning it is clearly a a success. I even had extra leftover from the canning process to try on toast for breakfast, and it’s really, really yummy. I’m calling it marmalade, but you can achieve a rhubarb curd-like experience by heavily buttering your toast first.

Rhubarb Marmalade

Makes 8 half-pints with at least another half-pint to spare. You’ll need a water-bath canner and all the relevant canning gear. It took me about an hour and a half start to finish, including fruit prep.

2 1/2 to 3 pounds clean finely diced fresh rhubarb
3 oranges
2 to 3 cups sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Pomona’s Pectin

Get your canner started with enough water to cover half-pint jars. Make sure the jars are clean and the lids and rings are ready. Also make sure you have mixed up the calcium water part of the Pomona’s in a little jar.

Put the diced rhubarb in a heavy-bottomed soup pot. Wash the outside of the oranges with a little dish soap and rinse. Thoroughly zest them (I use a zester to make long curlicues of peel rather than cleaning the pith out of the orange skin and cutting it in strips–the finer zest cooks faster–but if you are aiming for more of a marmalade, do it the other way).

Cut the oranges in half and squeeze out the juice. Make sure the seeds are removed and add it to the pot. Add the lemon juice. Put it on the stove over medium heat. Stir and simmer until the rhubarb begins to get tender. At this point, you can stir in 3 1/2 teaspoons of the Pomona’s calcium water. Make sure it is mixed in well.

As the rhubarb continues to simmer, measure the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add one tablespoon of Pomona’s pectin powder to the sugar, and with a whisk, mix it in well. You can then stir this into the simmering rhubarb and continue stirring to make sure it’s blended in completely. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil one minute, then remove from the heat.*

If you have timed things right, the water in your canner should be near boiling now. Pour some additional boiling water on the jar lids to activate the seal. Then you can fill hot jars with rhubarb mix, leaving 1/2″ headspace, and place them in the canner. Once you have the jars in the canner and the water is boiling, process for 5 minutes.

*At this point in my experience, the consistency of the rhubarb mix had not become jel-like. It was only slightly thicker. But time did show that it would thicken and set just fine, so you’ll have to be patient. If yours doesn’t set up, try again and adjust the lemon juice and/or pectin content in your recipe.