Rhubarb Jam

As part of my effort to make more of our food from local sources I have been trying to figure out how to preserve some of the rhubarb that has been appearing in our farmer's market and local coop. Yesterday I decided on rhubarb jam. I bought some produced by King's Valley School at the Corvallis Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago and it was really yummy. Yesterday I bought rhubarb from Gathering Together Farms sold in our coop, and Pomona's Universal Pectin and sort of improvised a recipe based on recipes for other fruits that were in the Pectin Box and a recipe online that used way more sugar than I wanted. The really great thing about this pectin is that you don't have to use sugar if you don't want to and it will still jell.I cut up the rhubarb and cooked it with a little water until it was soft. This gave me about 6 cups of fruit. So
6 cups rhubarb
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons calcium water (comes with the pectin)
3 teaspoons pectin
1/2 teaspoon butter (not sure why, but it was in the recipe off the internet)

This worked well. It jelled the perfect amount and is slightly sweet which is what I was aiming for.

I also verified that I can reuse the one part lids that some jams and jellies from the store come in. They will reseal.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I am still reading this book, and I can't say enough good things about it. It is a life changing book for me. In general this book advocates the many benefits of eating local food. There are many reasons for this a few of which are
1. We shouldn't be spending our limited oil supply on transportating our food thousand of miles when local food is available.
2. We should support small local agriculture.
3. Food that is transported long distances is bred for appearance and transportability rather than nutrition and flavor.
There are many more reasons and I couldn't possibly remember them all or state them as clearly as Kingsolver does. I really recommend that everyone read this book. Our food choices change our world.
I will probably be using the term locavore in future posts. This is a word used to describe people who are eating locally produced food, and that is what I am trying to do.