Making Rhubarb-Apple Jam

Since our rhubarb plant is now 3 years old we are trying to make a concerted effort to actually use it. The first year we didn't take any since we read that you should let it focus on putting out strong roots by not picking any. We could have harvested a ton last year because it was plenty big, and we did take some, but not as much as we could have.

And so, we made jam. I have always wanted to make jam and now we have a reason. We used this recipe from allrecipes ( I say "we" but hubby actually did all the work). The process was very easy and only took the following:

3 cups of diced rhubarb
3 cups of peeled, diced apples (preferably organic)
2 cup of sugar (we used turbinado but you could use white)
1/2 cup of water (although we had extra rhubarb so we added a few more tbsps of water)
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1-2oz pkg of pectin

Cook the rhubarb, apples, sugar, cinnamon and water down for 20 or so minutes. Mash it with a potato masher if it still a bit lumpy. Then throw in the pectin, boil for 5 mins and you're done! We are going to put it in fridge and freezer, so we didn't process it in a water bath but you easily could.

I thought the expense of the pectin would make cooking your own jam somewhat cost prohibitive since it is about $4 a box but look how much this made! The jam itself turned out brown because our rhubarb is the Green Victoria type not the red. Luckily someone else posted about this on allrecipes, so we were prepared for it to be this less-than-appetizing color. Still tastes great...almost like a tangy apple butter. We will definitely make this again; although, this will hold us for a good long while.