Rhubarb jelly is a special spring treat, and naturally tart rhubarb is perfect for a sweet-tart jelly.
Most year’s I’m all about chunky jams with big hunks of fruit. My little ones though, they love jelly.
I tried to convert them, but I found myself time and again eating my own batches of chunky fruit low sugar jam while they begged for full sugar batches of jelly.
I’m not complaining, I was happy to have a full batch of rhubarb jam and another of strawberry rhubarb jam to myself, but with more rhubarb coming in from the garden, it’s time to make a batch of smooth kid-approved rhubarb jelly.
Knowing there’s jelly on the way is enough to get a little help harvesting the rhubarb…
Rhubarb’s actually a vegetable that we treat as a fruit, and it doesn’t contain any meaningful amount of pectin. To make rhubarb jelly, you’re going to need to add commercial pectin.
I came across a recipe for rhubarb marmalade from the early 1900s that uses oranges as a pectin source, but it also has more orange than rhubarb. I want a simple rhubarb jelly, no citrus, please.
Extracting Juice for Rhubarb Jelly
Whether you’re using a low sugar or full sugar recipe, the first step to making rhubarb jelly is to extract the juice from the rhubarb.
Start by placing about 2 pounds of chopped rhubarb in a saucepan with a quart of water (4 cups). Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer. Simmer the mixture for 20 minutes, until the liquid has turned a bright pink and the rhubarb has completely fallen apart.
Pour the rhubarb into a jelly bag, or a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Allow the mixture to drain for at least 2 hours, preferably a bit longer (like 4 to 6).
Do not press the juice out of the fruit, it’ll cloud the finished rhubarb jelly, and the yield is only ever so slightly more. Not worth it.
After two to four hours of draining, you should have about 4 cups of rhubarb juice.
Choosing Pectin for Rhubarb Jelly
There are a number of different pectins on the market these days, and I’ve worked with them all at one point or another. This year I made two different batches of rhubarb jelly, a low sugar batch with Pomona’s pectin and a standard sugar Sure Jel batch.
Ball classic flex batch pectin and liquid pectin are also fine choices, depending on what you have on hand.
I’m going to give you instructions for making rhubarb jelly with all four types of pectin. Each recipe starts with 4 cups of extracted rhubarb juice.
Most standard sugar recipes require around 6 cups of sugar to allow the pectin to gel, but Pomona’s low sugar pectin will work just fine with as little as 1/2 cup of sugar to help distribute the pectin and prevent clumping. Still, if you’re rhubarb is tart you may want to use a bit more for better flavor.
How to Make Rhubarb Jelly
Pour the strained rhubarb juice into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Add the sugar and pectin.
Liquid pectin pouches should be added directly to the juice, but powdered pectin can be mixed in with the sugar so it evenly distributes in the juice and doesn’t clump.
Pomona’s pectin is two-part pectin that’s made for low sugar recipes. Liquid calcium water is first added to the juice, and the powdered pectin is mixed into the sugar to prevent clumping. Both parts come together to help the jelly gel without a lot of sugar.
Regardless of the pectin type, bring the mixture back to a hard boil and cook the juice/sugar/pectin mixture for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Turn off the heat and ladle the rhubarb jelly into prepared canning jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Canning Rhubarb Jelly
It’s perfectly fine to make a refrigerator or freezer jelly and skip the canning step. Just allow the jam to set at room temperature overnight and then store it in the refrigerator (for a few weeks) or freezer (for a few months).
While canning is completely optional, it’s actually really easy to can rhubarb jelly so you can enjoy it year-round.
Be sure you’re using approved canning jars with two-part canning lids, and ladle the hot rhubarb jelly into the canning jars. Leave 1/4 inch headspace and then cap with 2 part canning lids.
Process the rhubarb jelly in a water bath canner for 10 minutes before removing the jars to a towel on the counter to cool. Store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use, but any sealed jars will keep in the pantry for a year or more.
Rhubarb Jelly
Rhubarb jelly captures the taste of the spring rhubarb harvest in a jelly for year-round enjoyment.
Ingredients
Rhubarb Juice
- 2 lbs rhubarb, chopped into 1'' pieces
- 4 cups water
For Full Sugar Rhubarb Jelly
- 4 cups rhubarb juice
- 6 cups sugar
- 1 box Sure Jel pectin (1.75 ounces), or
- 6 tbsp Ball Classic Pectin Powder, or
- 2 pouches liquid pectin (3 oz each)
For Low-Sugar Rhubarb Jelly
- 4 cups rhubarb juice
- 1/2 cup to 2 cups sugar (or honey/maple)
- 5 tsp Pomona's Pectin Powder
- 2 tsp calcium water (comes with pectin)
Instructions
- Place the chopped rhubarb and water in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a hard boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer.
- Simmer rhubarb and water for about 20 minutes, until the rhubarb has completely fallen apart.
- Pour the rhubarb mixture into a jelly bag (or cheesecloth-lined fine mesh strainer). Allow the rhubarb juice to drain for at least 2 hours, or until you've collected 4 cups of juice.
- Pour the rhubarb juice back into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
- For a full sugar recipe, add the pectin and sugar into the boiling juice.
- If using Pomona's pectin, add the calcium water to the rhubarb juice and then mix the powdered pectin with the sugar separately, then add the sugar to the boiling juice.
- Regardless of the pectin choice, return the juice/sugar/pectin mixture to a boil and boil hard for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Turn off the heat and then pour the finished rhubarb jelly into prepared jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
- Store the preserve in the refrigerator (or freezer) for immediate use, or process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes for a shelf-stable rhubarb jelly.
Notes
This recipe provides instructions for using a number of different pectins. Choose just one, and obviously don't use them all in in the same batch.
More Rhubarb Recipes
Still have more rhubarb in the garden?
- Rhubarb Wine
- Small Batch Rhubarb Mead (honey wine)
- Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
- Amish Rhubarb Custard Pie
- Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
More Easy Jelly Recipes
Looking for more canning recipes to keep your jelly jars filled?
Marilyn whitewood
Loved these recipes! Not your usual spring recipes! Going to try dandelion jelly and rhubarb jelly!!
So happy to come across your post and I’m happy to follow you!! Your lifestyle is a great way to live !!
Kathy
My jelly did not set… so I unsealed and added another pectin brought back to rolling boil for 2 minutes processed for 10 minutes jars sealed but jelly had not set
Marlene Porter
Mine did not either very disappointed
Did you manage to ever get it to set?
Amber
If i end up with 6 cups of liquid can i make a batch and a half? Or will it mess it all up?
Thank you
Amber
Ashley Adamant
Yup, you can make a batch and a half if you add the propper amount of pectin, etc. You should be able to double this recipe without issue, but I wouldn’t go bigger than that.
Marlene Porter
Help mine has not set I’m very disappointed
Administrator
Can you tell me exactly which recipe you used and whether or not you made any changes?
Rebecca
Hi, I didn’t have quite the two pounds of rhubarb and then yielded only two cups of liquid after five hours. What kind of liquid should be added to make four cups? Thanks so much!
Rebecca
Administrator
Hi Rebecca. I think rather than trying to add some other kind of liquid to make the 4 cups I would just cut the recipe in half.
dalelyn butters
a question. We bought a home and It came with a huge rhubarb plant over 40 pounds this year. Happy plant!. I froze alot of it and in taking it out of the freezer and thawing it I got a ton of juice. Can I make jelly from that juice that was rendered through freezing?
Ashley Adamant
Yup! That’d work wonderfully since this recipe has added boxed pectin. Freezing reduces the pectin in fruit juices, so you can’t make pectin-free jellies out of frozen juice (blackberry jelly for example, that has enough pectin to make into a jelly without adding the boxed stuff.) Since rhubarb doesn’t really have pectin to speak of, making a jelly without added pectin isn’t even an option, and I’ll turn out the same using frozen v. fresh juice.
dalelyn b
Thanks I just love rhubarb and wanted to try jelly, I did try jam and it was not runny but not jam either so we ate it any way. And it took alot to freeze as I just really want to drink it. So now I will save a bit more then give it a go and let you know the results. Thanks again
jackie truman
I love your postings! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and time. I made your recipe for Dandelion Jelly and WOW! It’s like sweet heaven in a jar. I have never tried anything dandelion before and this jelly is a definite yearly must do! I made syrup this morning but I’m not confident it’s going to be heavy enough. If not, I’ll just use it in oatmeal instead of water and recipes to add a bit of sunshine. Next week I’m going to try rhubarb jelly. I used to make rhubarb strawberry sauce but it’s been 15 yrs since. I have made so many of your recipes and always share with friends. Do you have a recipe for rhubarb syrup also? Again, THANK YOU,
Jackie
Administrator
If you’re wanting to make a syrup, I would just start it off using the same directions as the jelly to extract the juice and then finish it off like a syrup.
Carolyn
Hi 🙂
I just made this recipe today using the full amount of sugar and it is very good. I love rhubarb. If you love rhubarb too, my suggestion would be to start with more rhubarb, (I had about 4 lbs prepared), and don’t add nearly as much water. I start with about a cup of water, the rhubarb begins to break down quickly and adds plenty of juice to the pot. I ended up with about 5 cups of liquid, so I gently boiled it down until I had 4 cups of more concentrated juice, thus giving me much more flavorful jelly! I ended up with 7 half-pints of jelly.
Thank you for all your great ideas; I can’t wait to try Dandelion jelly next spring… might as well do something positive with the nasty little monsters.
Patti
I made rhubarb jelly 3 years ago (not your recipe but it was about the same) using Pomoma’s Pectin and within 2 or 3 months the lovely colour was gone and it was a yucky brownish colour. I then did the research on Pomona’s that I should have done BEFORE making the jelly. There is a note in a recipe book I have that has recipes that all use Pomona’s and the fine print cautions you that the colour may change. Threw out all my remaining boxes of Pomona’s. I am looking forward to making jelly this year but with Certo or Berardin. I am a huge rhubarb fan and look forward to trying some of your lovely looking recipes.
Administrator
I was not aware of that. Thank you for sharing.
dalelyn preysa butterfield
I just read that pale colored jellies and jams do change color earlier to brownish shades read an article from national center for food preservation , and I did read that fruit fresh added can help on another site.
dalelyn preysa butterfield
I used certo and the same after a few months the color was gone and a brownish color now. Although not as color wise as pretty the taste is fine and mine eat it anyway. If you find a product that works let me know.
Nonarae
Mine did not set either. The instructions are not right. Pectin is EXTREMELY touchy. You cannot just say boil 1-2 minutes because with classic pectin that will overcook it. You have to do pectin and 2tbsp lemon juice with the rhubarb juice, bring to a boil for 1 minute, then add sugar and bring to a hard boil again for 1 more minute. Then put in jars and process. If you don’t follow that order then you get syrup rather than jelly.
Administrator
The order is definitely important and depends on the type of pectin being used. When using full sugar pectin, we like to add the pectin into the sugar so that it doesn’t clump. If the gel is poor, it’s possible that the pectin could not be fresh. It’s important to purchase fresh pectin each year.
Retta B
Please help! First time jelly maker; I made the full sugar recipe last night and my jelly did not set right. It is more like a maple syrup consistency instead of jelly. I followed the directions closely but my rhubarb/water boil only yielded 3 cups of pink liquid. I used 1 box of brand new original sure jell premium fruit pectin mixed in with the sugar. It yielded 5.5 jars for canning. I then boiled the jars for 10 minutes for sealing. Is there anything I can do to doctor this batch to get them to set?
Administrator
You used 4 cups of water along with the rhubarb to make the juice correct?
Annette
I am wondering if you can make the juice and refrigerate overnight and make the jelly the next day and turn out well?
Administrator
Yes, that should work just fine.
Jackie
I don’t see why not. I refrigerated crab apple juice for a week before finishing the jelly.
Martha E
According to recipes in the canning book I rely on, if you’re using pectin powder, you mix it with the fruit (and lemon juice if called for), and bring it to a boil. Then add the sugar, stir and bring it back up to a boil that won’t stir down, let it boil for 1 minute, then take it off the heat. If using liquid pectin, it’s the other way around. Add the sugar to the fruit, bring it to a boil to dissolve the sugar, THEN add the liquid pectin, etc.
I made this rhubarb jelly using a 1.75 oz. box of Sure Jell powdered pectin and followed the directions in the first part of my comment. It set wonderfully! If you add the sugar and the pectin at the same time, it’s likely not to set. I found that out in my early years of making jam. You might want to revise your recipe to save people disappointment.
Martha E.
P,S.: I let mine boil for 2 minutes just to be on the safe side. This rhubarb jelly is delicious!
Administrator
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. We appreciate it.
Wendy Purdiak
I had 8 cups of rhubarb juice and prepared a as follows:
8 cups of rhubarb juice
12 Cups of sugar
I/3 cup lemon juice
2 3oz packages of liquid pectin
I put the juice, liquid pectin and lemon juice and brought to a rapid rolling boil (2-3 ( minutes)
I then added the sugar and brought to boil for 2 minutes.
Jelled nicely and is very tasty.
I mostly followed your recipe except for the petin timing and I added lemon juice.
Administrator
So glad the recipe worked for you. Thanks for sharing.
Val E
I used this recipe to make blackberry rhubarb jelly and it tastes so good!
Administrator
That sounds really lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Laurie Greenia
Where in Vermont? I am a native Vermonter, always interested in fellow Vermonters. Anyway…Have you tried Watermelon Jelly? It is AWESOME if you like watermelon the rind pickles are delicious too. Just don’t use too much lemon.. never had anyone try these two that didn’t like them.
Administrator
That sounds very interesting. I haven’t tried watermelon jelly but I may have to add it to the list of things to try.
Mimi
I made this jelly, combining dry pectin and 2 tablespoons of. lemon juice to rhubarb juice, bringing to full boil, then adding sugar. Bring to a full boil for one minute, then put into jars. The jelly set petfectly.
Administrator
Thanks for sharing.