Preserving rhubarb is one of my favorite spring forays, especially canning rhubarb. My heart can't help but love rhubarb, a vegetables that lends itself as a fruit and is one of the first things we can harvest in the spring, long before my berries and fruit trees produce. It makes a mean dessert, excellent sauce (talking some of the best barbecue sauce you'll ever have), and dare I say, it's something every homestead and garden should have.
I did it, I said it, dare accepted. And one should definitely about preserving rhubarb, specifically my favorite is how to can rhubarb but having a few cups stashed in the freezer is fine too.
Ya ready? Let's go get our rhubarb loving hearts preserved!
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Learning to live more frugally and more self-sustainable includes using and eating season foods. It's a bonus if you grow it all yourself, but it's almost impossible to grow everything and there's no reason to miss out on certain foods if you don't grow it yourself.
Purchasing food as it comes in season is a great way to have fresh local food at a cheaper price. I try to purchase it from a local farmer if I don't grow it myself or a farmer's market, but even your grocery store will have lower prices on in season food.
May and June are a prime time for rhubarb, meaning and the tail end of asparagus season. I've put almost 20 quarts of pickled asparagus and am planning on one more run this week. Here's how to make and can pickled asparagus.
I had two bag fulls of rhubarb on the counter from a dear friend of ours. Rhubarb will store in the fridge for a week or two, but the ends will become rubbery and need trimmed. Important note: Only the stalks of rhubarb are safe to eat. The leaves our poisonous and should not be consumed or fed to animals.
It was fast becoming to the point I needed to do something with said rhubarb. My freezer is jam packed and we'll be butchering our meat chickens in less than a few months, so I didn't want to add anymore frozen produce to my stores.
Our strawberries are a few weeks away from becoming ripe and I have 8 cups of frozen rhubarb already designated to jam making. When I'm at a loss on what to make, I have one canning book I know I can turn to with a ton of recipes and ways to can.
Resource for Canning Rhubarb
If you don't have it, save yourself time and loss of wasted produce and go get it now. Do not go another canning season without it. Go get it now, right now –> Ball Complete Book of Home Canning.
It has the most recipes of any canning book I've owned (and I kind of have an addiction to canning books), plus they're all proven safe methods, and there's a variety for every kind of fruit, vegetable, meat, you name it. I also love all the side notes with additional info on why we need take certain steps, safe ways to alter, or extra advice. It's like having a canning instructor right beside you.
Learn how to can at home with me this Wednesday in my FREE Live training click here to register!
Rhubarb is one of my favorite spring foods. It's the perfect balance of tart paired with sweetness, like nature's version of sweet tarts, and just as addicting. Rhubarb is known for it's tongue tantalizing delights as a dessert from rhubarb dump cake (with a homemade from scratch cake mix), strawberry rhubarb jam, rhubarb pie, rhubarb and blueberry pie, I can't think of a way rhubarb doesn't work. I've even make it into a barbecue sauce that is divine. You might say I have a bit of a crush on rhubarb.
3 Ways to Preserve Rhubarb
- Freezing– to freeze rhubarb, rinse, dry and chop into uniform pieces, about a 1/2 inch. I vacuum pack mine into 4 cup portions as most of my recipes all for 4 cups of rhubarb. You can also use frozen rhubarb to later make into jam and desserts. I highly recommend a Food Saver vacuum sealer if you don't have one. It allows me to keep my frozen foods months longer.
- Rhubarb strawberry jam. This is a favorite and I plan on making with Pomona's Pectin this year so I can make a more low sugar version.
- How to can rhubarb, aka stewed rhubarb. Below are the tutorials for canning rhubarb recipes
How to Can Rhubarb
1. Rinse and pat dry rhubarb stalks. Chop into 1 inch pieces. Place into a large bowl and sprinkle sugar onto chopped rhubarb. Stir until well combined. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow to sit for 4 hours.
The sugar will pull out the juices from the rhubarb stalks, creating a lovely rhubarb syrup.
2. Wash 4 pints in warm soapy water and rinse. Fill water bath canner with water and begin to heat. Fill a kettle with a few cups of water and bring to a boil.
3. Dump rhubarb and syrup into a large pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds, stirring. Take off of heat and ladle 2 cups of rhubarb into each pint jar with a generous 1/2 inch head space. Pour syrup over rhubarb, dividing it evenly between the four jars to a 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles by running a spatula or knife around the outside of the jar and add more syrup if needed. If you run short on syrup, add boiling water (hence the kettle boiling). Wipe rim of jar clean, put lids on, and screw down bands.
4. Place in rack and immerse in water bath canner. Bring canner to a boil, making sure at least 1 to 2 inches of water cover the top of the lids. Process pints for 20 minutes with lid on. After 20 minutes, remove lid, let sit for 5 minutes, and then transfer jars onto a towel folded in thirds. Let jars cool for at least 12 hours without moving and check seals.
How to Pressure Can Rhubarb
Follow above recipe through step 3.
Place rack in pressure canner and ad specified amount of water. Place jars on rack. Allow pressure canner to vent for 10 minutes. Use 5 pounds of pressure and process both pint and quart sized jars for 8 minutes (if above 1,000 feet use 10 pounds).
It's normal for the rhubarb to float to the top of the jar. Don't worry. Looking for some recipes using canned rhubarb? Use in place of fresh for rhubarb pies, desserts, cakes, muffins, or just plain old eating.
How to Can Rhubarb
Ingredients
- 8 cups chopped rhubarb
- 1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Rinse and pat dry rhubarb stalks. Chop into 1 inch pieces. Place into a large bowl and sprinkle 1 cup sugar onto chopped rhubarb. Stir until well combined. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and allow to sit for 4 hours.
- The sugar will pull out the juices from the rhubarb stalks, creating a lovely rhubarb syrup.
- Wash 4 pints in warm soapy water and rinse. Fill water bath canner with water and begin to heat. Fill a kettle with a few cups of water and bring to a boil.
- Dump rhubarb and syrup into a large pot. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds, stirring. Take off of heat and ladle 2 cups of rhubarb into each pint jar with a generous 1/2 inch head space. Pour syrup over rhubarb, dividing it evenly between the four jars to a 1/2 inch head space. Remove air bubbles by running a spatula or knife around the outside of the jar and add more syrup if needed. If you run short on syrup, add boiling water (hence the kettle boiling). Wipe rim of jar clean, put lids on, and screw down bands.
- Place in rack and immerse in water bath canner. Bring canner to a boil, making sure at least 1 to 2 inches of water cover the top of the lids. Process pints for 20 minutes with lid on. After 20 minutes, remove lid, let sit for 5 minutes, and then transfer jars onto a towel folded in thirds. Let jars cool for at least 12 hours without moving and check seals.
- Pressure Canning Instruction
- Follow above recipe through step 3.
- Place rack in pressure canner and ad specified amount of water. Place jars on rack. Allow pressure canner to vent for 10 minutes. Use 5 pounds of pressure and process both pint and quart sized jars for 8 minutes (if 1,000 feet above sea level use 10 pounds per pressure).
What are your favorite ways to preserve rhubarb? While freezing can be great in the short term, learning how to can rhubarb, including pressure canning rhubarb, has quickly become my preferred method.
I am interested in your heading photo of the old farm building and the new farm, without your name of course. Is this available for reprint? I have an outside sign on my property which we call Woodhaven and the old sign has disintegrated. My husband made the original sign but has since passed away and your heading photo old farm matches the original farm building on our property. So I am asking if it is available and can be used by me?
Sharon,
It’s a photo of my dad’s barn up the road from us that I took. So I do own the photo. I’ve never been asked about reprints, but I’m flattered, as it’s one of my favorite’s. I’ll email you.
You mentioned in this post about rhubarb making a great barbecue sauce. Would you please share the recipe? Or point me in the right direction? Is this something that can be canned/preserved or not?
Hey Rachel, I used the recipe in the Ball book but this one is similar from one of my students in the Academy. https://www.thehouseandhomestead.com/rhubarbecue-homemade-rhubarb-barbecue-sauce/
I love warm stewed rhubarb lightly sweetened on some vanilla ice cream. Oh soooo, good.
I canned some stewed rhubarb last year, and would like to make a dish that I had made with fresh rhubarb, can you advise me how to go about it.
Thank you
Sharon
It depends on the dish, but if I made it with fresh and am using canned I usually reduce the liquid a bit and the bake/cook time if it doesn’t effect (a cake you can’t really reduce cook time but a pie you can take out once crust is browned).
I have made rhubarb chutney a few years ago, it was very tastey with meat.
Ball Canning Book in your rhubarb message. Have you ever made the Victoria Sauce that is in that book made from rhubarb? It is very good and is good as a condiment with meats – especially ham and pork!
Yes, I love their Victorian sauce!
My daughter, Shelby, was an avid canner and entered many exhibits in our County Junior Fair.
We tried the Victoria Sauce one year in the Food Preservation category.
She won a Blue Ribbon!
So proud of my girl.
She won Top Exhibitor several years.
I love all of your tips and recipes.
Thank you!
You mention that rhubarb leaves are poisonous and shouldn’t be eaten or fed to animals. Can you compost them? Or is it best to just throw them out?
I put theRhubarb leaves around the plants to keep the weeds down. The leaves disintegrate quickly
I also make rhubarb juice. 1 1/2 cups chopped fruit (any kind) and 1/3 cup sugar, boiling water. Put a little water in qt. size sterilized jar and add sugar and stir until dissolved, add fruit and fill with boiling water to 1/2 inch head space in jar. Cap jar and 15 mins. water bath for quart jar.
Great mixed with seltzer water for a change from plain water in summer. Also good to mix with rum for adult drinks.
I also enjoy rhubarb/ginger jam or rhubarb/pineapple sage jam.
That does sound delicious!
Your comment about rhubarb in BBQ sauce intrigues me. I will have to try making some this year. Do you have a good recipe for this?
I use the one in the Ball Complete Book of Home Canning
You need to link to the current edition of the canning book NO the out of print version.
https://www.amazon.com/All-Ball-Book-Canning-Preserving-ebook/dp/B01EMDH23I/ref=pd_sbsd_14_1/142-3786883-9106343?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01EMDH23I&pd_rd_r=279deafe-d644-4953-b5d9-041e78af12d4&pd_rd_w=h6Rys&pd_rd_wg=xSwVy&pf_rd_p=2c2d0d3b-b3c5-4110-93fa-2c1270309ac1&pf_rd_r=17H15DPXHDJM67XMEZJP&psc=1&refRID=17H15DPXHDJM67XMEZJP
It’s not out of print, Amazon is just out stock and it’s considered current as far as safety.
You give water bath and pressure canning options–why would I want to use one over the other? Is pressure canning safer in this instance? Thank you!
Not safer, just depends on what equipment you have. Pressure canning usually uses less water and takes less time.
Hello Melissa,
I would love to make some jam with our rhubarb. I still have a bunch in our freezer from last year. I have found a recipe for raspberry rhubarb jam but have no idea if it is a safe recipe to can. Is there someplace where I can check? How can a person find these things out? I am trying to get prepared early so I can make some Apple rhubarb sauce come fall
Thank you. I hope you and your family are well. I love watching and reading
Hi – coincidentally I pulled a rhubarb recipe out of the ball canning book and attempted it last night, then listened to your podcast this morning. I made the rhubarb conserve, and I followed the instructions but I don’t think it came out correctly. It’s runnier than I would have expected, and instead of “about 7 jars” I ended up with 11. I assume these issues are related, but I’m new to canning and I honestly don’t know. I have enough rhubarb to make a second batch, so any guidance you could provide would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
-christy, Roslyn WA