Orange rhubarb butter

I did some more canning this summer. This time it was orange rhubarb butter from the website Food in Jars. It turned out beautifully.

The rhubarb came from a friend in Maine. We recently traveled around New England to visit friends and family. Our friend pulled the rhubarb right out of the ground while we were visiting her. She trimmed and washed it and we wrapped it in plastic grocery bags, then surrounded it all with newspaper. It held up for two days on the road after that, and then for two days while I stored it in the refrigerator until I could get to it. Rhubarb is pretty hardy stuff!

The recipe notes that it cooks down quite a bit. It really does! The rhubarb started out like this:

And it quickly became this:

I got about two pints out of an armful of rhubarb, which produced about eight cups of chopped rhubarb plus some leftovers for the freezer. So far I’m enjoying it stirred into Greek yogurt for breakfast. Yum.

Orange Rhubarb Butter

From Food in Jars. Makes about one pint. You may double the recipe, but you might have to increase the cooking time.

Ingredients:

4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice

Directions:

Combine the three ingredients in a wide pan (I used a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven) and bring to a simmer. Reduce the temperature to low and let it gently bubble, stirring every five minutes or so. If it’s sticking to the bottom of the pot badly, lower the heat a bit more. Cook like this for at least an hour, until butter has reduced in volume and has turned a deep, rosy color.

Prepare one pint or two half pint jars. When butter is sufficiently cooked down, ladle it into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and screw on bands. Process in a boiling water canner for fifteen minutes.

When processing time has elapsed, remove jars from canner and place them on a towel-lined countertop. When jars have cooled enough to handle, remove the rings and test the seals by gently grasping the lids and lifting the jars. If the lids hold fast, your seals are good. If your jars do not seal, store product in refrigerator and consume within a month.

Sealed jars can be stored in a cool, dry place for up to six months.

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