Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

~ the britchy one

I went to visit my Amish friends on Tuesday and came home with a pile of fruit. So jam making was in order! Me and mine love home made jam. I made 24 jars of Strawberry Rhubarb on Wednesday – and there’s only 23 left! I think the other must have evaporated *looks innocent*

This jam recipe is one I’ve fiddled with for the last two years and I’m finally happy with it! It’s absolutely lovely. You can really taste both fruits, it’s sweet but the rhubarb flavor still shines through.

I’ve found that making it in larger batches than set out below doesn’t work. I have made two panfuls at the same time but if I use just one large pan it just won’t set well.

Strawberries are very low in pectin so I find using one and a half to two packets works best. Other recipes will say one is enough, that makes jam just too loose for my liking. Two packets (or the equivalent) works best.

Also – do NOT buy ‘freezer pectin’. It’s about as much use as a chocolate fire guard. Stick with regular or classic.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

4 cups strawberries, crushed

2 cups rhubarb, chopped small

1⁄4 cup lemon juice

1 -2 (1 3/4ounce) packages  dry pectin

5 1⁄2 cups sugar

12 half pint jars

1 tablespoon butter – optional. (This helps cut down on the jam foaming.)

Clean and chop the fruit. I cut the rhubarb into 1/2 cm pieces at largest and pretty much the same for the strawberries. I crush the strawberries with a potato masher. I’ve learned not to use a food processor as that aerated them too much which makes for a very foamy jam and a lot of waste.

Combine strawberries, rhubarb, lemon juice and pectin in a large saucepan and bring it to a boil over high heat.

Add the sugar, about a cup at a time so it doesn’t clump and kept stirring the whole time until all the sugar is added. Keep stirring constantly until your back gives way, your arms drop off and all the sugar is dissolved.

Bring it back to a boil and boil the jam hard for two minutes, stirring constantly. Yup. You will look like the terminator!

Remove from heat.

Skim foam if necessary.

Ladle hot jam into hot sterilised jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.

Set the lids and bands (or just lids if you have the one piece type) and tighten.

Place jars in boiling water in a large saucepan/ canning pot and boil for ten minutes.

Make sure the jars aren’t touching at all.

Be sure all jars have”popped” – that the lids don’t “give” to pressure. If they do, empty the jars back into a saucepan, rebook the jam and re sterilize the jars and process again.

You don’t need to do this if you will be storing the jam in the fridge and using within two weeks.

Published by the britchy one

A PROUD American Citizen who was born and bred in England and now resides in the US. I’m married to an American who really didn’t have a clue what he was letting himself in for - poor sod! I’m a cranky bitch who loves cats and books and hates chocolate, politics and Dave’s. Oh and mosquitos. I hate those blood sucking parasites but since I’ve already mentioned politics I’m repeating myself! I’m a short, skinny redhead, 3 kids, 2 dogs, not enough cats and a mouth with a death wish. Blood group - certifiable.

52 thoughts on “Strawberry Rhubarb Jam”

    1. Well you have to boil the fruit then add sugar, reboil etc so the actual cook time ends up at about ten minutes. Prepping the fruit takes the longest! Oh and canning it too. It took me four batches at ten minutes each, so by the time you count adding more water, bringing it back to a boil etc the canning took just over an hour.

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  2. yummy, I love making home made jam, its the best thing since sliced bread, when I can I go to these pick your own farms and get a load of fruit and like you make loads of jars of it and keep it in the fridge, it lasts for a long time if you don’t eat it all at once of course (LOL), my friends gave me a load of golden plums last summer and I still have in the fridge but the lemon curd is nearly finished as my son has been guzzling that. Shame you live too far we could have swapped over some, never mind I will have to eat it all myself (mmm)

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    1. Oh I love plum jam! I make a lot of lemon curd too as we love it and I use it in cakes and jam tarts a lot too. I’d never heard of Strawberry Rhubarb until I moved here but I have to say, it’s a fabulous mix!

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  3. sorry me again, have never heard of frozen pectin? I usually buy it in bottles and its called Certo and it works wonders especially for strawberry jam as if strawberries are just over ripe they take a long time to set.

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    1. We have powdered gelatin here. Some people make freezer jam which needs less pectin or a different concentration .. I prefer jarring it so I don’t really pay any attention. I bought some ‘freezer pectin’ in error and learned to pay attention next time!

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  6. After I started making homemade jam my family refused to eat store bought. I have never made strawberry rhubarb jam (only strawberry) but since strawberry rhubarb everything else is good (pie, crisp, sauce) why not??? Thanks for the recipe.

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      1. Homemade jam is very valuable. My husband can take a jar to our local sawmill and come back with a pickup bed full of sawdust or slab wood. We also have a friend who like to fish so we trade jam for fresh walleye.

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  9. I love homemade jam! However, I haven’t made it since I was a kid with my mother. My sis in law makes a fab cherry jam. Funnily enough, I bought some rubarb today, I thought I’d stew it to mix in natural yoghurt.

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  13. I would love to try this. I’ve always made just strawberry jam, but my grandma would always make a strawberry rhubarb pie. I bet this would remind me of her pie! I am really interested in this recipe!

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  14. I tried making kiwi jam here in Romania, but I could not find pectin, so I used chai seeds instead. It came out tasty and as solid as it needed to be. Now, I want to try this recipe of yours… it looks delicious! 😋 Thank-you for sharing. 🤗

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  19. Hello. I think I will be trying this recipe as my daughter went strawberry picking with her grandma and came back with two bushels full. Our rhubarb has been growing very good this year. So have lots of rhubarb to use up. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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    1. There is actually a “thing” here called freezer jam… and yes, I can’t see the point either! Freezer pectin is different but whether it’s higher concentrate or lower I have no clue as I’m not wasting my time making freezer jam! To me, that’s right up there with freezing water in case of a power cut lol

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  22. Aw, this was a really nice post. In thought I wish to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make a very good article… however what can I say… I procrastinate alot and not at all appear to get something done.

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