Rabarbarasulta - Rhubarb Jam

This is served with all sorts of foods and some people will eat it with anything. It is delicious spread on pancakes, between the layers of a Devil's Cake, on waffles (with cream), with roast lamb, or even with ice-cream. There are two varieties of this jam: dark and light. My mother always makes the thick, dark variety. The light variety is better if you intend to use it in baking or to spread on cakes.

Recipe:
  1. 1 kg rhubarb (use the red variety as much as possible, it gives better colour)
  2. 800g-1 kg white sugar

Wash the rhubarb with cold water and remove any traces of the leaves, which are toxic. Leave the white roots. 

Chop up the rhubarb, mix up with the sugar and stand aside over night, then put it in a big cooking pot and bring to the boil over high temperature. Turn down the heat and cook on low until it is about the thickness of thick porridge. 

The original recipe recommends about 10-20 minutes, but if you want darker, thicker jam, cook it longer. Stir frequently.

When done, pour the hot jam into sterilised jars and close immediately. 

To keep longer, use preservative. For long-time storage, store in a cool, dark place. Refrigeration is not necessary. The sugar in rhubarb jam occasionally crystallises, in which case the jam can be re-heated to melt the sugar and re-poured into sterilised jars. 

Note:
-For finer jam, chop finely, and when the mixture boils, remove from the heat, mince, return to the pot and continue cooking as directed.

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