Sudden Death IV: Strawberry (& Rhubarb) Conserve

We never used to be a household that ate much jam, but that changed ever since I started using a spoonful of it to coax the toddler to eat his toast crusts.  Plus, it's always handy to have a jar handy for impromptu gifts.

On the other hand, I've tried making my own jam before, and ended up with a runny mess.  Between the different recipe, and the different ingredients, would this time be different?  I hope so!

The first modification I introduced was to incorporate the plentiful rhubarb from our garden, thus changing the jam from strawberry-only to strawberry and rhubarb.  Not wanting the tart and powerful rhubarb to overwhelm the strawberries, I opted to use mostly strawberries (approx 3 to 1 ratio by chopped volume).

The next substitution was required for a mystery ingredient, "fruit sugar".  Presumably, that product is a sugar with a pectin component to assist setting; so, I used approximately the same amount of white sugar, with 2 tablespoons of pectin mixed in.  Hopefully, that will do the trick!

In following the rest of the directions exactly, I ended up with four jars (two large, two small) of homemade strawberry rhubarb jam.  It set well, and had a good, jam-like consistency, which I was immensely pleased by.  On the downside, the rhubarb was too docile for my tastes, and in future jams, I will incorporate more of it.  Also, as my preference is for chunkier jams, the berries would benefit from less time in the food processor.

D and the toddler were less picky, and enjoyed the final product.  Our jar has been happily added to the roster of household jams, and holds its own among them.

The Verdict:  Despite needing some guesswork in ingredient substitution, the finished product was both tasty and sufficiently jam-like.  As a result, this recipe PASSES!

The Score for Healthy Winter Warmers:  HWW is showing much stronger now, with 3 wins and only 1 loss.  Two more recipes remain before the final verdict on Healthy Winter Warmers.  Only one more pass is needed for HWW to be declared a good cookbook -- will it make it?  Or will it fumble?  We shall see!

Next up, tarted-up lamb chops!