Spiced rhubarb conserves (p. 940)

Mom has a big rhubarb patch in the backyard and asked me if there were any TJOC recipes that could utilize some. I thumbed through TJOC and noticed Spiced rhubarb conserves (p. 940), out of the jellies and preserves chapter that I had not made a single item from. Mom is a seasoned canner and I thought that she could help me. I don't really like jelly or jam so the chapter hasn't been that interesting to me.

I froze and then sliced an orange and a lemon (freezing makes them easier to slice--and always use a serrated knife, it is so much easier that way). I peeled and cut some ginger into slivers and combined them with apple cider and boiled it until the citrus peel was soft, which took about an hour (it was supposed to take fifteen minutes):




I added rhubarb, golden raisins, cinnamon, mace, and sugar:



And boiled it all until it was thick:



Mom and I sterilized the jars in boiling water:





We poured the conserves into the canning jars (which I don't think were actually the correct size):



And finished the canning process!



It was very exciting and made 3.5 jars. I took two, gave mom one, and gave my dad one. I have absolutely no idea what they taste like because I haven't opened any of them up yet, so I will have to edit this post when I finally taste the finished product. Conserves, apparently, are served with poultry or meat rather than smeared on toast like jelly or jam. Does anyone eat conserves? For some reason, that seems really strange to me.

Jellies and preserves index

The great indexing project! Because I can't think of any other better way to do this...I'm listing all of the recipes in a given chapter and linking them to the post where I cook it. I would ADORE if you would comment on the index, especially if you can comment on TJOC recipes (in the respective chapter) that you have made and your thoughts on it :)

I'm terrible about updating the indexes, so if you stumbled on this page from Google and nothing is linked from the dish you are looking for, be sure to search for it.

I decided to include this chapter about three years into the project, so that's why it's so slow :)

Jellies and preserves:
Number of recipes: 50
Number of recipes made:
May 2009--0
Oct 09: Haven't attempted any yet
Mid-Jan 10: the same!

Mid-Jan 11: 1 or 2%
Mid-May 11: the same

Black raspberry and gooseberry jelly
Blackberry jelly
Grape jelly
Apple or crab apple jelly
Guava jelly
Quince jelly
Tart plum jelly
Herb or scented jelly
Paradise jelly
Hot pepper jelly
Mint jelly
Prickly pear jelly
Lemon jelly
Savory lemon jelly
Red red strawberry jam
Blueberry jam
Spiced pear jam with pineapple
Berry jam
Gooseberry jam
Five-fruit jam cockaigne
Seedless red grape jam
Plum jam
Naturally sweetened pear and grape jam
Golden cherry tomato and ginger jam
Baked apple butter
Naturally sweetened apple butter
Microwave fruit butter
Strawberry preserves
Apricot preserves
Peach or nectarine preserves
Strawberry and pineapple preserves
Strawberry and rhubarb preserves
Damson, Italian plum, or greengage preserves
Quince preserves
Harvest preserves
Tomato preserves
Fig preserves
Kumquat preserves
Peach conserves
Blue plum conserves
Cranberry conserves
Christmas conserves
Spiced rhubarb conserves
Sweet cherry conserves
Bitter orange marmalade
Four-citrus marmalade
Lime marmalade
Ginger marmalade
Jellied damson sauce
Nesselrode sauce