The Canning of the Rhubarb

A couple of weeks ago the rhubarb was ripe and ready to go. I did the usual rhubarb whip, changed a plum cake recipe into rhubarb cake, and then ventured into the unknown with canning it.

Now I can a lot, 6 kids a lot, shelves a lot. But I've never tried rhubarb. So I dug out my handy-dandy canning book and found out how to do it. Of course I can't find my notes on what I did as to number of cups of this and that now that I'm ready to post about it.

I do remember it took 4 plants to get the 75 stalks I figured we needed for 12 quarts. Grandma's plant was good for 25 stalks, it is well established and well looked after. The 2 wild plants at dh's market garden were good for 20 each and the new rhubarb plant at the house was up for 10. We do need to plant a couple more rhubarb at the house though. Grandma is going to divide hers and give us the bigger part and we'll get another too. Three well tended plants should do us well and the extra can always go to the Farmer's Market to fill table space if needed.

I can tell you it was just rhubarb and sugar, cooked down, put in hot sterile jars and processed as per instructions in the book, the one I can 't find now. Typical. I'm even sitting beside the bookcase of cookbooks, the newly decluttered and cleaned one.

I'm not too sure even what to do with the final product. Free food is free food and these perennial fruits are there for the taking so I'm going to figure it out. I have a few months though as we have a firm rule that items canned, frozen or dried are for winter, not for eating while other things are growing.

Now is there another rhubarb plant that I can use for strawberry-rhubarb jam????