Preserving Rhubarb and Strawberries

Last fall I came across the blog Food in Jars, since then I have been dying to preserve some things. However, we had just moved, we didn’t have a garden and we were too busy to go to the farmers market to get anything in bulk. For Christmas a friend got me the book and I have been drooling and dreaming of the things that will come from my garden that I can put up.

This spring we found a pretty sizable rhubarb patch and in addition to giving some to neighbors and family I asked my mother in law to work with Nora preserving some of the rhubarb.

They made Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Jam and Rhubarb Sauce (to go on ice cream).

Josh made Rhubarb Juice the next week and we drank it with a variety of things including as an accompaniment to my favorite local Gin and Vodka – Death’s Door.

We also invented a drink which Nora named the Willow Bend Sunset (not because she was drinking it but because she was around when it was being made). It’s equal parts rhubarb syrup, gin, and vodka with a splash of St. Germain, topped with equal parts lemonade and iced tea, and if you pour it into the glass in that order will look like a sunset until you stir it up to enjoy.

Then when the time came and the AppleBerry Farm, the neighboring farm from up the road, had strawberries ready Nora and I stopped to pick some berries while Ben was at robotics camp one day.

I made Strawberry Vanilla Jam from and it is amazing…… I had planned on returning to the farm to pick like a million flats more but I never made it back and they are finished for the season. Booo Hoooo. At least we have these few jars of yummy strawberry goodness.