Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Ive been wandering all over and seeing so many recipes combining both strawberry and rhubarb. Now I love them both and thought, gosh I haven't made jam in a long time. So I went shopping this week and the store had a good sale on organic strawberries. I bought those and decided to get some rhubarb too since it looked pretty good. I bought some canning stuff last yr. and never got around to canning so I dragged all the stuff out. I wandered online to my recipe files. I thought I had a recipe for it. .........the one I see says pectin is needed. Sigh.

I don't know if I have that and it was 106 outside and I wasn't going to the store in that. I checked my supplies and hey I bought some pectin last yr! It was liquid pectin tho. The recipes are calling for powdered pectin. Since I never used the liquid before I checked online. Sigh.

Now I find out they are not interchangeable. So I stroll online more looking for recipes that use it. Why do they make this stuff if there are no recipes using it? Sigh.

So now I start looking for equivalents thinking there must be a way I can still use this. I found some weird thing about jam that didn't gel and how much to use per cup of cooked jam mixture. So I used that. I ended up using the whole pkg. just in case. The measurement was 1 1/2tsp. per 1c. jam mix. I had a bit more than I needed in that pouch and I knew Id never save it so I just dumped it all in. According to my measurements it needed 15tsp. and there were 18 in the pouch. What the heck a few more couldn't matter right? I want it to gel, right? So here's my recipe and what I did and lots of pictures. Hopefully it will inspire you to try.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB JAM Makes 8 pts.

3c. sliced strawberries
2c. rhubarb, diced
5-7c. sugar (I thought this excessive so I only used 5c., recipe says you can do that)
1pkg. liquid fruit pectin
1 tsp. butter (helps keep the foam down)
1 lemon, juiced and about 1tsp. grated rind

Let jars, rims and lids stand in hot water until they are needed. Then drain and fill with the following.

Chop rhubarb and put in 8qt. pot with 1c. of the sugar. (Rhubarb is alot like celery and has strings. You must destring it first, then chop) Let stand for about an hr. till it has lots of juice in the pan. In the meantime cut up the strawberries and put in a bowl. Add lemon juice and about a tsp. of the grated rind. Add 1c. of the above sugar to it also and let stand till juicy.

Cook rhubarb for a few min. till tender, then add strawberries. Add the remaining 3c. sugar. Add butter and continue cooking till strawberries are tender. Mash if needed while cooking.

Add fruit pectin and stir well. Bring to a full boil and if some foam appears try to remove as much as you can. There should be less because of the added butter. After a min. of boiling remove from heat.

Fill jars by ladling hot jam into the hot jars, leaving a space of about 1/2in. from top. Wipe edges and top with rims and seals. Tighten as much as possible. Invert jars for 5min. then turn upright. Let sit for 24hrs before serving.
These can be canned in a water bath canner if you prefer. Put in canner and when it comes to a boil, boil for 5min. and let cool.

I didn't can these, as long as the seals pop down they should be ok. I also read that using liquid pectin, it can take up to two wks to gel. I didn't warm enough jars so I filled another plain one and put it in my refrigerator as a test. Today it has thickened some and should be fine. I suspect over the next few days it will get even thicker. The recipe only called for 1tb. lemon juice. I changed this. I did half a lemon. As it cooked I tasted it and decided it was too sweet for me so I added the other half of lemon. It was perfect so I thought why not add some rind too. I absolutely love it. I tasted it this morning and the fruit flavor comes thru not the sugar. I will do this again with other jams I think.