Rhubarb Juice Concentrate (with Canning Instructions)
Rhubarb juice concentrate is an easy way to preserve the flavor of rhubarb in a convenient easy to use juice concentrate.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 cups rhubarb sliced into 1'' pieces, stalks only, leaves removed
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup sugar optional, see notes
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, combine sliced rhubarb and water.
- Bring the mixture to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until rhubarb is very soft and starting to fall apart, about 10 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Prepare a jelly strainer bag, or line a colander with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth. Strain rhubarb and collect juice. You should have around 8 cups (4 pints) of juice. Allow the juice to drip until the rhubarb is quite dry, about 1 to 2 hours.
- If canning, prepare a water bath canner by pre-heating it to just simmering (roughly 180 degrees F).
- Place extracted rhubarb juice back in a clean saucepan and add sugar (if using). Warm to dissolve sugar. It should be just barely simmering, but do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam (if any).
- Ladle hot rhubarb juice concentrate into jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap with 2 part canning lids to finger tight.
- If canning, process jars (pints and half pints) in a water bath canner for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the canner for an additional 5 minutes to cool slightly before removing them with a canning jar lifter to cool completely on a towel on the counter.
- Wait 12 to 24 hours, then check seals. Store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator for immediate use. Properly canned and sealed jars may be store in the pantry. Refrigerate after opening.
Notes
The sugar is optional, and not required for canning safety. Sugar can be increased, decreased or eliminated to suit your tastes. For a Rhubarb Syrup instead of juice, add 1 cup of sugar for each cup of rhubarb juice. Canning instructions are the same.
Alternative sweeteners may be used, but check to make sure they're approved for canning (if canning).
Try these variations for a slightly different flavor:
- Rhubarb Lemonade Concentrate ~ Add the juice of 2 to 4 lemons, or around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of lemon juice. I prefer the higher amount, which adds just under one lemon's worth of juice per pint of concentrate. Increase the sugar to 2 cups. The yield should closer to 5 pints (instead of 4). This concentrate is much stronger, as it has a lot of lemon tartness (and flavor), and will go a lot further when reconstituted than plain rhubarb juice concentrate.
- Strawberry Rhubarb Juice Concentrate ~ Add 1 to 2 quarts of strawberries to the mix when extracting the juice. Keep the sugar at 1 cup. Each quart of strawberries adds about 1 to 1 1/2 cup of juice to the final mix, so if you add about 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups), you should get a total yield of 5 pints of strawberry rhubarb juice concentrate.
- Sunshine Rhubarb Concentrate ~ Add the zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange to the mixture when extracting the rhubarb juice. Add an extra 1/2 cup sugar (1 1/2 cups total) to account for the tartness of the lemon juice.