Mason jars, a pot and plenty of rhubarb - that's all you need to preserve the fruity-sour vegetables. Contrary to popular belief, botanically speaking, rhubarb is not a fruit because it is not the fruit that is eaten, but the stalks. Regardless, preserving rhubarb is very easy and quick and also offers numerous variations. A basic recipe can be used to prepare many tasty creations with just a few changes.
Aids
The following utensils are required to cook the rhubarb:
- paring knife or vegetable peeler
- big pot
- Mason jars or jam jars with screw caps
- small trowel
Glasses
Jam jars with screw caps and intact lids or preserving jars that close tightly can be used. In any case, it is important that the glasses are prepared accordingly. Thorough washing is also necessary for new glasses. In addition, the containers and lids must also be rinsed with boiling water to remove contamination and germs. Otherwise the shelf life of the cooked rhubarb will be affected.
Ingredients
To cook rhubarb, you basically only need rhubarb and a little water in a ratio of three to four parts rhubarb to one part water. This mixture is the entire basic recipe and contains no sugar at all. Alternatively, you can skip the water and let the prepared rhubarb, sprinkled with a little sugar, steep for about half an hour. This causes the juice to come out and serve as cooking liquid.
The following ingredients are also recommended for the variations already mentioned:
- Vanilla or vanilla sugar
- Lemon Juice
- unsprayed orange peels
- Ginger
- Cinnamon
These can be used individually or in combination.
Tip:
If you want to miss out on the calories of sugar but don't want to miss out on the sweetness, you can use stevia, for example.
Taste
Whether or not sugar or a sweetener such as stevia should be added depends of course on the intended use and your own taste - but also on the acidity of the rhubarb sticks. This can be clearly seen from the color of the peel and the pulp.
If the stalks are green inside and out, they are particularly sour. Variants that are red on the outside and only green on the inside are somewhat milder. Rhubarb has a sweeter note, its peel and stem interior are red.
Preparation
Before cooking the rhubarb, the following steps are required:
- The rhubarb is washed, peeled, freed from all strings and cut into slices about one centimeter wide.
- In order to reduce the oxalic acid in rhubarb, it is first blanched. To do this, it is placed in boiling water for about five minutes. The cooking water is no longer used.
- Depending on your choice, the rhubarb pieces are now covered with sugar or a little water is added. For the sweet version, as mentioned, you should wait about half an hour so that the pieces can juice up.
Cooking and preserving
Once the rhubarb has been prepared accordingly, the actual preserving begins:
- The rhubarb pieces are mixed with the additional ingredients and cooked to the desired consistency. If you want it to stay a little crispier, a short cooking time of around ten minutes is usually enough.
- Immediately after cooking and as hot as possible, the rhubarb is poured into the prepared and rinsed jars.
- The jars must be closed tightly and placed on the lid until they have cooled down. Alternatively, the filled and sealed jars are boiled in a water bath for about 15 minutes.
Cooking in a glass
Instead of cooking in a pot, the rhubarb can also be boiled directly in a jar:
- Mixed with sugar or water and other ingredients, the prepared and blanched rhubarb is poured into preserving jars with preserving clips and preserving ring.
- The jars are tightly closed and placed in a pot of water or placed in the oven.
- They are then boiled in the oven at 100°C or in boiling water for half an hour.
Durability
Provided that the jars are clean and tightly sealed, the cooked rhubarb will last for several months without any problems - even without refrigeration. However, care should be taken to ensure that:
- the glasses are dark
- the lid of screw caps does not bulge
- there is a click when opening the screw cap
Before consumption, you should also check whether the smell has changed or whether gas has formed in the glass. If this is not the case, the cooked rhubarb can be used as jam, on ice cream, yoghurt or in a smoothie. It is also wonderful as a compote. Unsweetened rhubarb without any additional ingredients offers the opportunity to sweeten it to suit the respective use and to prepare it again and again with spices.
Alternative to canning
In addition to boiling, it is also possible to preserve the rhubarb by freezing. For this purpose it should also be blanched beforehand. After pre-cooking, draining and cooling, the dry sticks or pieces are frozen in freezer bags or containers. In this way, the rhubarb can easily be kept for several months.
Rhubarb cake with snow top
Simply prepare a batter - mix 125 g margarine with 125 g sugar and a packet of vanilla sugar until foamy. Separate 5 eggs. Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks to the sugar-margarine mixture, beat again until foamy.
- Sift about 250 g of flour with 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder over this mixture.
- Stir the whole thing together well and add enough milk until you have a smooth dough that is difficult to fall off the spoon.
- Spread this onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or greased. Spread 500 g of rhubarb cut into pieces on top.
- Bake the cake at 160°C (hot air) for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, make a meringue from egg whites and sugar. Distribute these over the cake. Bake this “snow cap” at around 200°C (hot air + grill if necessary) for about 10 minutes until golden.
More recipe ideas for rhubarb
As an aperitif: rhubarb cocktail
with or without alcohol. Put one to two tablespoons of rhubarb puree or syrup into a champagne glass and top with bubbling water (champagne, prosecco or mineral water).
In the main course: Hearty sauce for fried pork or poultry
To 200 g of blanched and drained rhubarb, add a finely chopped chili pepper, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sugar, honey or a little sweetener and possibly a pressed garlic clove. Season with herbs as desired, e.g. coriander, cumin, add a little water and bring to the boil. Finally, use the hand blender to make a creamy sauce.
As dessert: rhubarb ice cream
Refine the cooled rhubarb compote with a little real bourbon vanilla and sugar or sweetener. Stir in cream or milk and process in the ice cream maker (please follow the manufacturer's instructions for the device) to make a creamy ice cream.
As a spread: rhubarb and strawberry jam
Conclusion
Rhubarb has a reputation for being a difficult vegetable or fruit to preserve - but with the right approach it is quite easy to preserve it in a delicious way for a long time. The only thing that should be paid attention to in any case is the reduction of oxalic acid through blanching. In addition, the cleanliness of the jars and their secure and airtight seal when preserving are crucial for their durability. If you still don't want to try it, you can alternatively freeze the rhubarb.
