A jam the color of a summer sunrise or a rosy summer sunset. This apple rhubarb rose oven jam is sweet and gently tangy, it is perfect on granola, scones or bread but also delicious when slightly warmed with a heaped spoonful of ice cream or even straight from the jar if you dare! This is a fruit symphony disguised as a jar of jam.
I probably shouldn’t tell you this but my open book policy prevents it, so be prepared to turn away in disgust…. I have been known to eat jam from the jar by the spoonful. I suspect trying to qualify it by saying it’s with a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon wouldn’t impress you much either, huh?
We never had Rhubarb Jam when I was growing up. It was strawberry jam or marmalade. But I got a little bit obsessed with it when I was working in a fancy central London hotel, it was my go to naughty, and I say naughty because I’d raid the fridges on the sly which is not something we chefs are technically allowed to do, but when one has a craving, one becomes crafty at dodging the wrath of big burly chefs for a sugary snack.
I digress….
Ken, my (former) friendly green grocer tells me it’s rhubarb season and that I needed to get to Ziggys asap as giant bunches of rhubarb were going cheap. I’m not sure how and why the market prices work but not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth I quickly snatched up an armful of rhubarb for this jam.
Apple rhubarb rose oven jam is super easy and splatter-free if you make it in the oven, the vanilla bean and rosewater packs a floral punch and compliments the sweet-tart of the rhubarb. If you don’t care for rosewater, leave it out as the vanilla will still bring plenty of fragrance.
I kept the fruit in chunks although you can always blitz it up. I also added natural pectin from orange skins. It gives it a nice slight jelly like consistency without setting it hard (a preference of mine but feel free to use powdered pectin if you like your jam more solid).
If you are all about gorgeous full fruit jams and fabulous flavour combinations, this bad boy is beautiful heaped onto freshly baked bread, spooned onto scones or heaped on top of yogurt or ice cream. It also doubles as a mood brightener because there’s no way that you can eat a spoon of this heavenly concoction and not smile.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever made jam in the oven before? Have you tried this combination before? What did you think? And do you prefer loose or hard set jams?
Apple Rhubarb Rose Oven Jam
Ingredients
1 kilogram rhubarb, cleaned and cut into 2-inch pieces 500 grams Granny Smith apples, cleaned and cut into 2-inch pieces 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped 2 cups coconut sugar 3 2-inch strips orange zest 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoon rosewater
1 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice