The day that I made rhubarb jam...

We have a crop of rhubarb that grows really well each year. Up until last year when my grandma died, I did nothing with it but eat a couple of celebratory stalks each spring. Last year, with the passing of Gigi, I got out her rhubarb crisp recipe for the first time.

This year, I went beyond a rhubarb crisp. I decided to make JAM!

That's right, me - the non-cooker, non-baker, really only use the kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal kind of gal - decided to make rhubarb jam.

I found the pectin-free recipe on the internet. Now I had no idea what pectin was until Keith bought some when he got the canning jars at Meijer. However, as I looked for the recipe I wanted to use, I couldn't really tell if it was good or bad (although it's been used for years as a thickening agent in jams!) So I decided not to use it; rather I found a recipe that called for orange zest and orange juice.  The jam is has the consistency of apple butter (or if you ask Keith, it's like orange marmalade).

Either way, my adventure in making jam was a complete and total success! (Why yes, I will toot my own horn because that jam is DELISH!)

The ingredients.
That's the orange after it's been "zested".
And yes, orange juice in the eye hurts.
A lot.

Cooking on the stove

The finished product,
ready to be canned.

A rhubarb lover's delight!!!