Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

     The CSA season has officially started.  Last Friday, I picked up my first bag of goodies and I had a bit of Christmas in June.  Somehow; however, we have to finish off the bag by Wednesday evening as we are leaving for Asia on Thursday.  Yes, Asia!  Dear Husband has a conference in Seoul and we decided that we all needed to go.  We need the adventure and have been planning this for months.  

     We have a busy seventeen days.  In Seoul, we have rented an apartment near DH's conference hotel.  Unfortunately, he will not have much time to spend with us there but we do have a family food tour scheduled for Saturday afternoon.  The rest of the week, DD and I will tour the city, visit the DMZ, and participate in a few more foodie events.

     After ten days in Korea, our family vacation will start and we have arranged a trip to Japan.  This is going to be a completely food centered trip.  We start in Kyoto for several days, then head into the interior where we will spend two nights at a traditional spa.  Then a quick two nights in Tokyo.  Most of the time we will have private culinary tours and DD is totally psyched to have sushi direct from the fish market.

     Back to the CSA...last night, we used the arugula as our salad bed which accompanied our Pork Spiedini.  This is one of our new favorite recipes and I am bound to post more about it over the summer.  The kale will be consumed tonight in a super easy dinner of Farfalle with Italian Sausage and White Beans.   Asparagus Fries will be a great accompaniment for steaks on Tuesday.  We will finish out with our final dinner on Thursday with Zucchini Fritters.

     With the rhubarb that we received, we all agreed that a jam was in order.  This jam is super, super easy.  It goes so fast that I never go through the proper canning procedure.  If you think you can consume in in a few weeks, don't worry about canning.  If you need it to last longer, then Google how to properly can.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients

2 cups diced rhubarb

3 cups white sugar

2 1/2 cups strawberries, halved

1/8 cup fresh lemon juice

1.  Combine the rhubarb and the sugar in a heavy pan and let it sit for 90 minutes to two hours.  

2.  Add the strawberries and lemon juice and stir to combine.

3.  Bring to a boil and cook at a steady simmer for 20-25 minutes.  The fruit will break down and the natural pectin in the berries should thicken the jam.  If you want a thicker version, then you can add pectin according to the package directions.

4.  Take off the heat and cool slightly.  Using an immersion blender, quickly puree the jam.  I like chunks of fruit in my jam so I tried to leave it relatively chunky.

Enjoy!