The Rhubarb Recipe Page – preserves
Rhubarb chutney
I found this rhubarb chutney recipe on the http://www.allotment.org website. Thank you to Sonia who originally contributed the recipe. I’m going to try it out later this summer as it has lots of positive comments on the site.
I would guess this recipe makes 7lb, maybe 8lb of finished chutney – will update once I’ve tried it.
Ingredients
Ingredients
3lb rhubarb
1lb onions
1lb eating apples
8oz dates
8oz dried apricots
2 pts white wine vinegar
2lb 4oz soft brown sugar
4 tspn salt
1 tspn cayenne pepper
1 tspn ground cloves
1 tspn cinnamon
2 tspn ground ginger
Method
Chop all the fruit and vegetables, add the vinegar, sugar and spices and bring slowly to the boil, stirring now and again.
Simmer for about two hours (don’t forget to stir as it will stick) until thick.
Pour into heated jars and seal.
Recipe for rhubarb and ginger jam
This rhubarb jam recipe is also from http://www.allotment.org contributed by experienced jam and chutney maker Val Harrison. I’ve incorporated into the recipe the suggestion that a number of cooks have tried of adding chopped ginger rather than simply infusing the jam with bruised ginger. Again, haven’t tried it myself yet but lots of positive comments on the site.
Ingredients
4lbs (2 kg) rhubarb
4lbs (2 kg) granulated sugar
3 oz (75 g) root ginger
Juice of 2 lemons
Trim, wash and wipe the rhubarb and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) lengths. Put into a bowl, sprinkle with the sugar, cover and leave overnight to soak.
Next day, pour into a pan, add the lemon juice, bruise the ginger and wrap in a piece of muslin and place it in the pan. Alternatively, peel and finely chop the ginger and add it to the pan. Bring the pan contents slowly to the boil, stirring occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved.
Boil rapidly until the jam sets when tested and the fruit sinks to the bottom of the pan.
Remove the scum and leave to cool slightly. Pot into warm sterilized jars and seal whilst still warm.
Makes about 5 lbs (2.5 kg) of jam.
Recipe for rhubarb jam
This one comes from Mrs Beeton – I don’t own a first edition from 1861 but I was lucky enough to be given recently a lovingly preserved 1880 version. Both the 1861 and my 1880 version contain this recipe:
“INGREDIENTS – To every lb of rhubarb allow 1 lb of loaf sugar, the rind of 1/2 lemon.
Mode. – Wipe the rhubarb perfectly dry, take off the string or peel, and weigh it; put it into a preserving pan, with sugar in the above proportion; mince the lemon-rind very finely, add it to the other ingredients, and place the preserving-pan by the side of the fire; keep stirring to prevent the rhubarb from burning, and when the sugar is well dissolved, put the pan more over the fire, and let the jam boil until it is done, taking care to keep it well skimmed and stirred with a wooden or silver spoon. Pour it into pots, and cover down with oiled and egged papers.
Time – If the rhubarb is young and tender, 3/4 hour, reckoning from the time it simmers equally; old rhubarb, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hour.
Average cost, 5d. to 7d. per lb pot.
Sufficient. – About 1 pint of sliced rhubarb to fill a lb. pot.
Seasonable from February to April.”
Recipe for rhubarb jam
Another rhubarb jam recipe, adapted from “The Constance Spry Cookery Book” first published in 1956. This one includes apple and marries the rhubarb with both of its classic partners, orange and ginger. The nuggets of candied orange peel and crystallised ginger add interesting textural contrasts too.
Ingredients
10 lb rhubarb, washed, trimmed and chopped into small pieces (10lb is the weight of prepared rhubarb)
2 lb peeled, cored and roughly chopped cooking apples ( 2 lb is the weight of the prepared apple)
7 1/2 lb granulated sugar
3 oz candied orange peel cut into fine shreds (buy whole pieces of candied orange peel or make your own as chopped mixed peel won’t do)
3 oz crystallised ginger, sliced
zest and juice of 2 lemons
Mix the rhubarb, apple and sugar together in a large bowl and leave 12-24 hours to draw out the juices and soften the fruit.
Tip into a preserving pan and add the remaining ingredients.
Bring slowly to the boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, boil rapidly until a set is achieved, about 15-20 minutes.
Test for a set after 15 minutes by dropping a teaspoonful of jam onto a chilled saucer, waiting 30 seconds, and seeing whether a slight skin forms on the jam which wrinkles when pushed delicately with a clean forefinger.
Pot and seal in the usual way.
The Rhubarb Fool 
I ran across your blog while looking for a Swiss cheese ball (fried) recipe after returning from a trip to Nyon, Switzerland. Looking forward to seeing more!