Rhubarb & Ginger Jam is made with crystallised stem ginger which adds a delicious mellowing warmth to the sharpness of the rhubarb. This is a jam you’ll be begged to make again & again!
What do you do with a pack of rhubarb?
Make my Rhubarb & Ginger Jam (no pectin recipe) that’s what!
I love rhubarb and when it’s in season at a reasonable price or reduced (you know me, love a bargain) then I just have to buy it. So having had a pack of rhubarb in my fridge for a few days I realised it needed using up.
I looked around for some inspiration and spied my crystallised ginger in the cupboard! In the past I’ve made Rhubarb & Ginger Cake so I knew these flavours married really well together.
So what’s so special about Rhubarb & Ginger Jam?
Well oh my golly gosh, this Rhubarb & Ginger Jam just blew me away! The sharpness of the rhubarb is totally mellowed and given a delicious warmth from the crystallised ginger.
I’ve had 3 scones with it on so far this week, I may have had one for breakfast too (don’t judge)! Even hubby who doesn’t usually like ginger loved my jam too! As usual there’s no pectin or jam sugar in this recipe and the jam has a fairly soft set.
How much Rhubarb & Ginger Jam will this recipe make?
From one 400 g pack of rhubarb you will get 2 x 200 ml jars or 1 x 400 ml jar. If you end up with slightly less prepared weight of rhubarb then just use an equal weight of sugar but packs usually have slightly more weight in them than they say!
Where can you find rhubarb for free?
After making this Rhubarb & Ginger Jam I needed to get hold of some more rhubarb to style the photographs! As luck would have it, I stumbled across a post in a local Facebook group flagging up some free food and produce via an app called Olio. I downloaded the app and saw that there was also rhubarb on offer which is now gracing my jam shots (and since been turned into my Rhubarb Compote).
On arriving to collect the rhubarb I was also offered other food and produce which you can see in the picture above. The app is global and all about reducing food (and toiletries) waste so if you need some or have some to give whether as an individual or corporation then I can’t recommend it enough.
Please spread the word to stop good food going to landfill!
What other rhubarb or ginger preserve recipes are there?
I asked a few bloggers for their recommendations and here is what they came up with, plus a few of my own:
- Simple Rhubarb & Gin Jam
- Rhubarb & Strawberry Jam
- Rhubarb, Lemon & Vanilla Jam
- Rhubarb & Orange Jam
- Ginger Orange Marmalade
- Pumpkin & Ginger Jam
I’m sure you’ll love my Rhubarb & Ginger Jam and by all means scale up the recipe. You’ll probably need to add a few extra minutes to the boiling time but start with the time stated just to be on the safe side and gauge it from there!
Don’t forget to leave a comment or share your creations with me by tagging @FabFood4All on social media – I love seeing my recipes come to life!
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Rhubarb & Ginger Jam
Crystallised stem ginger adds a delicious mellowing warmth to the sharpness of the rhubarb which makes this Rhubarb & Ginger Jam taste out of this world!
Ingredients
- 400 g chopped rhubarb narrow stalks best (prepared weight)
- 30 g crystallised stem ginger finely chopped
- 400 g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- Wash and dry the rhubarb, then chop into equal sized cubes.
- Place in a bowl and add the chopped crystallised stem ginger, sugar and lemon juice.
- Cover with a plate and set aside for 2 – 3 hrs to allow the rhubarb juices to start flowing and ginger flavour develop.
- Transfer to a pan and heat gently whilst stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. (You’ll notice there will no longer be any scratching sounds from the sugar).
Bring to a rolling boil and time for 6 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon to prevent the jam from sticking to the pan and burning.
- Turn off the heat and test a few drops of jam on a chilled saucer, if a finger pushed through it makes and crinkle and it appears tacky, it’s ready.
- If it’s not ready boil for another 2 minutes and repeat until is passes the test.
- Ladle jam into hot sterilised jar/s and seal immediately.
- Allow to cool before serving.
- Store in a cool, dark place where it will keep for a year and most likely more (if you can resist it that long)!
Recipe Notes
Sterilise jars by washing in hot soapy water (or take straight from dishwasher), fill with boiling water, empty and then place in oven for 20 minutes at 140°C where you leave them until the jam is ready. Washed lids should be sterilised with boiling water and then left to drain.
Denise Marshall
Started making this yesterday but got distracted which meant leaving the ingredients in the bowl mingling overnight. A happy accident as it happens as it had a lovely aroma this morning. Have now made the jam and ended up with 2 jars (about 825g total – or 30ounces for your US Readers). I added all the zest from the lemon and left the two squeezed lemon halves in with the mix too, removing them prior to bottling. Love the tangy lemon flavour and I’ll definitely be making this again. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Camilla
Excellent Denise, yes soaking the fruit over night helps the flavours develop and the fruit to remain whole so no bad thing! Glad you like the recipe:-)
Eva
What a geius ides to be using crystallized ginger for this jam! Oh I love rhubarb when it’s rhubarb season and I always produce strawberry rhubarb jam. This is a flavour variation I’m eager to try!
Camilla
Thanks Eva, yes I have a Rhubarb & Strawberry Jam too, the more rhubarb jam recipes the better I say, I try to sneak it in somehow:-)
Cindy
I substituted some raw honey and added some fresh ginger and lemon zest. Delish
Camilla
Fabulous Cindy:-)
Caroline
Can you substitute the ginger stem to ginger powder
Camilla
I don’t think so, you could Google but pretty sure most recipes use either fresh, crystallised or stem ginger.
Amy
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Camilla
Thank you, so glad you like it:-)
Candy
No need to boil jars again after jam has been added?
Camilla
Hi Candy, that’s not something we do in the UK or Europe for jam making. So yes the recipe is as it stands.
Candy
Great! Thanks. I made it this afternoon. I think I lost a little in the grams to cups translation because way too little sugar while cooking. It was opaque, like pink applesauce … lol. I tasted. And, nope. Not enough sugar. Added another cup and 1/3 and it immediately turned translucent like your pic. So, yay! Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Camilla
Excellent Candy and a good demonstration of how you cannot convert a weight to a volume measure and why I don’t have a weight calculator on my blog or everyone across the pond would think my recipes didn’t work. I would seriously consider getting some digital scales from Walmart or Amazon as they’re not expensive and will make your European recipes work first time.
Daniele
There is an app called convert free ,you can convert anything ,money,inches, meters ,acres whatever.no need for a special scale
Camilla
But you cannot convert a volume to a weight as I have tried in my own kitchen to make blueberry jam using cups but depending on whether the packs of blueberries had big or small blueberries in them the weight of a cup varied greatly and if you scale that up by many cups the margin or error is greater and throws the whole recipe proportions out.
Emily
Hi! How long would this last for? And store in the fridge? Thanks!
Camilla
Hi, I’ve had a jar in the fridge since last year and have been enjoying it on my Hot Cross Buns in the last few days I tend to say once open it will last a couple of months but it can last a lot longer if you always use a clean teaspoon each time. Unopened jars will last for years in a cool dry place (I keep mine in a cupboard in my garage).
Emily
Ignore me I’ve found the answer 🙂
SooHo
Hi there!
Do you think strawberries would taste good in this jam? I have some wild ones in my freezer I would love to use up!
Camilla
Hi, no I really think the strawberries need to shine so you’re better off making my Rhubarb & Strawberry Jam which is equally delicious:-) https://www.fabfood4all.co.uk/rhubarb-strawberry-jam/
B
If you want followers from the US, you are going to have to translate those “g”‘s into cups/ teaspoon/etc
Camilla
Hi B, my aim is to provide recipes that work to an exact scientific formula, cups are not measures of weight but measures of volume. So yes I could get some conversion software to spit out inaccurate conversions and “cash in” on a US audience but that’s not what I’m about. Integrity is everything with me. I keep saying that for my recipes to work as written you need to make a small investment in a set of digital scales. My son who is at university and cooks for himself was over the moon with the set I bought him for Christmas. I also invested money in a set of cups once they came available in the UK. Having tried to measure out blueberries in those cups for my blueberry jam (I really wanted to please my US readers, believe me) it became very apparent that depending on what size the blueberries were, the weights per cup were markedly different and when you scale that up to a few cups then the weight difference is even greater and hence the scope for error. So forgive me for not providing cup measurements but you wouldn’t thank me for a recipe that didn’t turn out the exact way it was meant to. I have a Scottish US based blogger friend with a donut recipe that had to remove the cup measures from her recipe as everyone who used them ended in failure but the ones that used scales loved the recipe. Happy New Year and I hope you understand a little more my rationale. xx
Kim
I have a lot of rhubarb in my freezer. Can you make this with frozen rhubarb?
Camilla
Yes you can make any jam with frozen fruit. I haven’t tried this yet but have read it’s nearly as good as using fresh fruit.
Sarah Wale
I regularly make jam from frozen strawberries, raspberries and plums and it’s always successful! The plums are soft when they defrost so it’s much easier to get the stones out than from fresh ones – a real bonus! I just use equal weight (or rather less, never more) of Jam Sugar and the squeezed juice of a lemon if I have one – it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. Put everything in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to keep the sugar off the bottom and burning. When it has dissolved completely add a small knob of butter to prevent scum forming and bring to a fast, rolling boil. Leave it to boil for about 4 minutes and test; if you like a slack jam, bottle now or leave for a further period, testing minute by minute until you get the setting point you like. 6 minutes will give a good firm set but much more and it might end up becoming too hard and chewy!
Camilla
Fab, although I have to say I used jam sugar once and never again, I just use lemon/juice for all my low pectin fruit jams. So not sure why lemon would be needed when using added pectin ie jam sugar.
Maria C.
Any suggesting for making this with fresh ginger root instead of crystals?
Camilla
I would try looking at a recipe with ginger root and adapt this one.