Rhubarb & apple jam

At the Summer preserves course last year I learned to make this strawberry& apple jam, where the addition of apple was used to gelled this strawberry jam. As rhubarb has a similar low natural content of pectin as strawberries, I decided to use addition of apple puree to gel this rhubarb jam in combination with a high sugar content.

Well, I think I should have added some more apple puree to obtain a more gelled texture, as this rhubarb jam has a quiet fluid texture. Or perhaps it was the addition of the 200 ml water in order to the rhubarb boiled. Or perhaps I used have added ½-1 teaspoon citric acid to obtain the gelled texture.

As usual I will sell the majority of the jam to my work colleagues, as I cannot eat all this rhubarb jam on my own. The money, which my colleagues pay will afterwards be donated to charity.

Rhubarb & apple jam: 8-10 glasses

• 1 kg rhubarb stems - washed and stem removed and cut into a length 2-3 cm
• 200 ml water
• 450 g cooking apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1400 g sugar
• Atamon - optional

1. Place the apple slices in a separate cooking pan together with the water part.
2. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the apple over low heat, until the apples is quiet soft and pulpy, should look like apple mash (approx 10 minutes).
3. Sieve the apple pulp, there should be around 340 g in total.
4. Add the rhubarb pieces and water to a large jam. Bring the content to the boil, let the fruit simmer gently until tender, approx 15 minutes.
5. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
6. Add the apple purée into the rhubarb mixture mix together to combine the fruit.
7. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
8. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
9. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
10. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
11. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
12. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
13. Store at ambient temperature.