My friend Tanya brought over a jar of this amazing jam, which her mother in England always made, and we finished it off in the first week.  So I decided to make a batch yesterday with another friend, Donna.  It’s so unusual and so good. (Think it would be amazing on baked Brie!)

Tanya mentioned that the recipe was on BBC Good Food.  After much research, (what exactly is Jam sugar?) metric conversions and hard math, we came up with this recipe.  Read more here about how to can jams and jellies.

8 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2″ pieces (2 lbs.)
Juice and zest of 1 1/2 lemons  (or 6 Tbsp lemon juice)
9 Tbsp pectin powder
1/3 cup finely diced crystallized ginger
2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger root (Use more if you really like ginger)
8 cups sugar

Add everything except sugar into a large pot. On high heat, bring to a boil, stirring constantly then reduce heat and cook for a few minutes until the rhubarb is soft. (Frozen, chopped rhubarb will cook a little more quickly.) Be sure to continue scraping the bottom as the pectin likes to stick there.  You can use a potato masher to break the fruit down a little more.

If your rhubarb is a mostly green variety – you can add a drop or two of red food coloring, which will turn it a soft pink.  But it’s totally optional.

Add sugar and bring back up to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat and continue to stir and scoop off the foam.  The foam is perfectly edible – just doesn’t look pretty in the jars.

With a clean damp towel, carefully wipe off the glass tops of the jars, fill to 1/2″ from the top and put the lids on.  Place rings on, but don’t completely tighten them.

In a large stock pot or canning pot, put jars into simmering water.  Cover completely and bring back up to the boil. Turn down to a simmer again and leave it for 10 minutes.

Remove from pot, and place right side up on a clean towel.  Leave to cool overnight.  In the morning check to see that the lids are all staying down in the middle.  If they’ve popped up, or they go up and down, they haven’t sealed, and need to be wiped down, and put back in the simmering water again for 10 minutes.