Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam
This recipe plays with the wonderful flavors of rhubarb. While a vegetable, rhubarb is a perennial, sprouting after the spring frost disappears and grows from a rhizome, much like a hop plant. Rhubarb has a similar texture to celery, while not being in the same family, the long crimson stalks. These stalks are tart, with a elegant sour note, explaining why they are usually cooked with sugar, to add balance. The triangular leaves are deep green and contain a high level of oxalic acid, which makes them inedible.
What lead me to make a Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam? Rhubarb is often mixed with different fruits, to add a unique texture and add that rich sour | tart flavor. Rhubarb has been used to make cakes, crumbles, pies, jams and even an ingredient in some tonic recipes. As sweet strawberries pop with the addition of an acid, usually lemon juice, rhubarb is often added to this berry, finding harmony together. Strawberries and rhubarb have been combined together to make a sauce, a pie and jam. With the Flanders Red Ale, the flavors of strawberry, raspberry and cherry combine with a oaky element along with the different Belgian yeasts that create a perfect backdrop for rhubarb, must like the classic strawberry. When cooking with beer, finding balance with the combination of food, whether it be a sweet fruit, a vegetable with sour or tart notes, sugar to add texture and a preserving quality and salt to amp up the flavors, is the idea behind Beer Cuisine. This beer jam combines all these flavors and textures to create a wonderful and delicious example of why to cook with beer.
This Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam recipe was developed for the Brewers Association’s World Beer Cup Grand Banquet Menu in 2010. For Chicago, Randy Mosher and I wanted to highlight the flavors, history and food traditions of Chicago. With the first course, our goal was to give a selection of different ethnic flavors to the table with charcuterie from these different cuisines for the first course.
This is the recipe that was used for that dinner. The total attendance was 2000 guests from 44 different countries. To prepare enough for each table to have a jar, 10 people at each, we needed over 200 jars of Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam for just one meal. This recipe can be scaled down to a more manageable size by using the scaling option below. To make one 750 ml bottle of beer worth of jam, scale the recipe from 264 to 17 jars and the recipe will adjust to the right scale for home use.
This sweet | tart flavor combo becomes a wonderful addition to any cheese board, served with pancakes, waffles, homemade bread, Homemade Brewers Crackers with Spent Grain or even served with a charcuterie selection. Use this recipe as a filling for Bière Crêpes, or layer into a cake, especially a Sour Cream Pound Cake Recipe. This Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam recipe is perfect for your pantry, as rhubarb is a seasonal ingredient. This jam also makes a wonderful gift idea.
And remember, Eat Beer!
c
Makes: 264 four ounce jars, just the recipe can be scaled to make as many jars of jam as desired. The size of the jam jars can also be swapped out to 8 or 16 ounce jars.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 264 jars | 30 minute |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 1 hour | 24 hour |
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Using the red fruit flavors of this iconic Flanders Red Ale and combining it with tart rhubarb, to make a lushious Rhubarb & Rodenbach Grand Cru Jam.
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264 each
jars, 4 ounce, wide mouth with lids, available here: Glass Jars, KAMOTA 4 oz (150ml)
- 60 pound rhubarb, fresh, washed and sliced into 3/4 inch pieces, omitting any leaves
- 12000 ML Flanders Red Ale, such as Rodenbach Grand Cru (750ml X 16 bottles for 264 jars)
- 5 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 30 cup sugar, organic
- 32 packages pectin, sugar the sugar free version, its comes in a pink box
- Before beginning this recipe, have all the jars washed and placed into a 180°F | 82°C oven, onto sheet trays, jars facing up. Bake for 20 minutes, then keep warm. This will sterilize the jars. Have a large pot of water, boiling and all the lids ready to be dipped. The rings should be in a separate container near by.
- In a large stock pot or steam kettle, add the prepared rhubarb, pour in the 3/4th of Rodenbach Grand Cru beer and salt. Place over a medium heat and bring to a slow simmer. Cook fruit for 30 minutes, scraping bottom to prevent any burning.
- Add sugar to the kettle and stir well, dissolving the crystals into the mixture and cook another 30 minutes. Open the powdered pectin boxes and empty into a container. Add the last 1/4th of beer to brighten the beer flavor, mixing well and letting simmer another 3 minutes. Then pour all the pectin into the pot and stir to combine. Bring mixture back to a boil for 2 minute.
- Turn off the heat and work quickly. Skim any foam into a bowl using a ladle. Remove the jars from the oven, one tray at a time. Using a canning funnel and a 4 oz ladle, fill the jars almost to the top, leaving about 1/4 of an inch of head space. Have someone follow with a rag to whip any jam from the rim. Next quickly boiled the lids (use a strainer basket, filling some of the lids and shaking in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Then place sterilized lid on each filled jar and seal with a ring. Repeat with remaining sheet trays of jars, one at a time till finished. Let sit to cool. Test the jars after 2 hours, a seal should have formed, shown by an indent in the lid.
Here is a list of all the winners from the 2010 World Beer Cup.
Sean generously provided me this recipe some years ago. I had posted about making a strawberry and rhubarb mead and mentioned that it had been a terrific year for my neighbor’s thubarb plant. In addition, I had been barrel aging homebrewed Flanders Red for years, and so he suggested I try my hand at this recipe.
Amaz-balls stuff – so good we made several batches and shared with freinds. So glad to see it on this site because the recipe had gotten lost over time!
Thanks Sean – you are a better chef than I am a brewer – and that is (im)modestly saying a lot!
Crispy