“Love love love this recipe. And soooo easy! ” ~Jennifer
I’m madly trying to get the most out of the short rhubarb season. The other day when I asked my produce guy for some he went in the back and brought me out a HUGE armload of stalks. We’re leaving town this week so I need to preserve it for later. And I’ve always loved old fashioned fresh fruit butters, I love the smooth, silky texture, and I love the way the flavor is intensified.
Fruit butters don’t require sugar like traditional jams, and so the essence of the fruit comes through stronger. The only reason I used a little sugar in this recipe is that rhubarb is super tart. You can do this with lots of different fruit, from apples to peaches and plums. Berries too, but you’ll want to strain out the seeds. I have an incredibly silky Cranberry Butter recipe that you can make in the slow cooker. And in summer, don’t forget to make a batch or two of my amazing Peach Butter!
With no pectin, and very little, if any, sugar, this is an easy way to preserve fruit. You can blend varieties, or just stick to one. You can add spice or flavoring, too. I added cardamom to my rhubarb, but next time I’m going to use a vanilla bean.
More reasons to hoard rhubarb!
Rhubarb is such a unique flavor, and it’s around for such a short time, I go a little crazy with it during the season:
- Rhubarb Jelly
- Rhubarb Curd
- Rhubarb Bread
- Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie
- Rhubarb Crisp with Cardamom and Vanilla
- Easy Rhubarb Breakfast Cake
- No Bake Rhubarb Dream Bars
“Just made this and it was soooo good! Delicious while still warm over vanilla ice cream! Mmmmm!” ~ Linda
Easy Rhubarb Butter
Ingredients
- 1 lb rhubarb, which is approximately 3-4 cups chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar
- squeeze of fresh lemon
- optional: 1/4 tsp cardamom, or cinnamon, or the seeds of 1 vanilla bean
Instructions
- Rinse the rhubarb and trim the ends Slice it into 1 inch pieces and put in a heavy bottomed pot along with the sugar. Add 2 tablespoons of water and the lemon juice, and stir to combine.
- Heat, stirring constantly, until the rhubarb starts to give off juice and the mixture comes to a boil. Boil gently for about 20-30 minutes, until the rhubarb is very soft and mostly broken down.
- Puree the mixture, in batches if necessary,. Be careful when pureeing hot liquids, as they can ‘explode’ up through the spout of the processor or blender.
- Put the puree in a clean pan back on the stove and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it gently bubble away until reduced and thickened about another 20 minutes, Stir often, and be careful not to let the fruit scorch. If you are using the spice or vanilla bean, stir it in now.
- Spoon the finished butter into a glass jar. Let cool, then cap and refrigerate. It will thicken further as it cools. You will have about a cup.
Notes
- If you want to make a larger batch, you can freeze this, and you can also can it. I just keep it in the fridge, it will be scarfed up within a couple of weeks.
- There is no firm rule about how long to cook the pureed fruit. The longer you cook it and reduce it down, the thicker it will be. It’s a matter of personal taste.
Nutrition
I decided to make a double recipe in my crockpot and here is what I discovered. The water is not needed. After cooking on high for a couple hours the rhubarb had released a lot of water and it was very soupy. I added more rhubarb and let it cook until the new rhubarb was soft, then used my immersion blender to purée everything. Then I added more sugar to taste. My rhubarb is a green variety so I added a few drops of red food colouring to make a more attractive color. At this point I left the lid off the crockpot and continued cooking on high, stirring every hour or so. At bedtime the mixture was still too loose so I turned the crockpot to low, put the lid on and went to bed. I had to get up in the middle of the night so I checked on the butter. It was still very loose and was turning a darker color so I turned the pot off and allowed it to cool, hoping it would thicken as it cooled. Alas, it did not. I now have it in a saucepan on the stove and will see if I can eliminate some of the moisture that way. Unfortunately the color is no longer very attractive. I was hoping for a pretty pink butter for toast and thumbprint cookies. If I was to try again I would eliminate the water (if using the crockpot) and wait to alter the color until I was closer to desired consistency.
So after a slow simmer in the stovetop the rhubarb butter has thickened up. I added one and a half tablespoons of pure vanilla extract and added a little bit more sugar. It tastes and smells delicious. I should have measured it before I packaged it but I would say that after doubling and adding a little bit more rhubarb in hopes of offsetting the excess liquid I’ve ended up with approximately 3 cups. I’m freezing some for the filling for thumbprint cookies for my holiday cookie platters.
Thanks for the full report Shelley, and your holiday cookies sound like they’ll be delish.
It is really tasty and the vanilla added a lovely fragrance as well. I only wish it was as beautifully coloured as yours Sue. Thank you for the inspiration.
Rhubarb comes in so many different shades, Shelley, and I’m guessing yours was a little on the green side? The flavor shouldn’t be affected, though!
Where can I find glass jars like the one filled with the butter, with the clip and glass lid?
Those are Weck canning jars, Robyn, and they come in all shapes and sizes. It’s a German company ~ here’s a link to them on Amazon
I am wondering if this could be made (step #2) in a crock pot? Any thoughts?? Thanks!
Hi Marcy ~ yes, I’ve made several fruit butters in the crock pot, my Cranberry Butter is one, here’s the recipe for reference: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/minimal-monday-crock-pot-cranberry-butter/ You might want to add a touch of water if you’re going to leave it in the crock pot for a long period.
Have you ever tried adding strawberries to this. I’m just wondering how it would come out or how much to add. I was thinking 2 parts rhubarb one part strawberry but I haven’t made fruit butter before so I wasn’t sure how this would change the texture.
I don’t think you can go wrong, Megan, because I’ve made all kinds of fruit butters…I say go for it, either in a 2 to 1 or even 1 to 1 ratio!
Yes it will be wonderful . I mix strawberries with Rhubarb all the time .love a strawberry and rhubarb sauce I grew up on . Slice rhubarb and strawberries and put in sauce pan . Cook on med-low till they cook down . Add sugar to taste . Great over ice cream or just along it’s also great with bananas or apples
So simple yet so delicious!
Could I use honey instead of the sugar?
I think that should work, Christina — let us know your results!
Unbelievably good. Like this way better than Rhubarb Jam. Used Vanilla in mine. Waiting on the toaster for a second helping. Thank you!
I’m so glad you like it Stephanie, I agree, fruit butters are much better than jam 🙂
I’m wondering if you can use frozen rhubarb & if so how much would a pound be in cups? Also wondering about using the crockpot instead of stove for final cooking? It would be so much less likely to scorch. I need to use up my freezer rhubarb before the fresh starts soon.
Any tips for canning it? It sounds divine, and my rhubarb patch still has some life left!
I’m so sorry, I’m not much of a canner, Kayleigh!
I just looked it up and it said if using hot rhubarb butter in sterilized jars, can then in a water bath for 5 mins. If just using clean jars, can them in a water bath for 10 mins.
This will never make the freezer. I could eat it with a spoon. I added a wee bit more sugar in the second “cooking” process as mine was a bit too tart. Mine is cooling and I added a vanilla bean. I’m taking it with homemade cream scones to my friends house tomorrow. YUM and thank you!!!
Gorgeous, I’d love this on ice cream or spread on fresh bread!