Rhubarb Jam for Mother's Day

For our first recipe, I chose this 150-year-old rhubarb jam, from the best-selling cookbook of the 19th century.

There are many things I love about it. First and foremost, you get to have a close encounter with rhubarb-that strange and weirdly beautiful stalk. Second, you get to meet Miss Eliza Leslie-a great culinary goddess of the 19th century.

Rhubarb jam strikes me as very "mom," which is to say, from the home kitchen. Here is Miss Leslie's recipe.

Rhubarb Jam- Peel the rhubarb stalks and cut them into small square pieces. Then weigh them, and to each pound allow three quarters of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Put the sugar and the rhubarb into a large, deep, white pan, in alternate layers, the top layer to be of sugar-cover it, and let it stand all night. In the morning, put it into a preserving kettle, and boil it slowly till the whole is dissolved into a thick mass, stirring it frequently, and skimming it before every stirring. Put it warm into glass jars, and tie it up with brandy paper. -- Eliza Leslie, Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, 1851

This recipe is fast and easy. Simply get some rhubarb, clean them, cut them, and stew them on top of the stove with sugar until they are broken down and soft. Don't bother with hot water baths or serious preserving techniques. Just cook enough to make one nice little jar, and eat it within five days.

Did I mention that it is a lovely rose color? I love that too.

Here's a modern version of Eliza's recipe-enough to make a 7 to 8 ounce jar of jam:

Ingredients

1 pound of rhubarb cut into ½ inch squares (about 4 large stalks, or 3 cups when sliced)
¾ pounds of sugar (1 1/2 cups)

Put rhubarb and sugar in a pan on top of the stove with sugar and bring to a boil, stirring constantly as water weeps out of the rhubarb. Lower heat and simmer for about 15 minutes-until consistency is jammy but still loose. It will thicken as it cools, so do not cook away all the water or else you'll wind up with taffy you can hardly get your spoon through. Cool. Put into jars and refrigerate. It's fabulous with plain yogurt for a Mom's Day breakfast.

Variations: Add a teaspoon of cinnamon and juice from half an orange. A few squeezes of lemon are highly recommended. Replace some of the rhubarb with strawberries or raspberries. Use less sugar if you like a tart rhubarby flavor. Remember, back then there were no refrigerators and you needed to use lots of sugar to conserve the fruit. I prefer a half-pound of sugar.

Historic cooking questions: What about peeling the stalks like Eliza says you should?

To peel or not to peel….I did it both ways. Peeling removes some of the strings and is fun because you get a pile of these lovely satiny red ribbons that have an interesting earthy smell. I tried it without peeling however and did not find a big difference in the results.

What about setting the rhubarb out the night before, layered in sugar like Eliza says to?

Yes, I tried this. It's a cool technique. When you go and check your rhubarb in the morning you find it swimming in liquid that has wept out all night. This is the best way to go about it. But since many of us are short on time, I tested it without this step and got fine results.

What the heck is powdered loaf-sugar anyway…and for that matter brandy paper?

Sugar used to come in loaves and required scraping. Regular granulated sugar is fine. Brandy paper was writing paper coated in brandy. The mason jar didn't come along until the 1870s.

A little bit about rhubarb. Rhubarb resembles celery. It is a vegetable and has been used since ancient times for medicinal purposes-and only during the last few hundred years for eating. Its best time is now-in the spring. Rhubarb likes cool weather and does not grow in the South, but I understand that it is shipped into many Southern states.

Part of its personality is its weirdness. First of all, it is terribly sour and earthy. And watch out for its leaves and roots, which are poisonous. We eat only the sour stringy stalks. And yet, sugar and cooking transforms them into something delicious. If you find yourself falling in love with rhubarb, you might want to join the cult of rhubarb and attend one of the many rhubarb festivals around the country. There's a great one coming up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 21 - 22. http://www.foodreference.com/html/zrhubarbfestival0522.html

A little bit about Eliza Leslie (1787-1858). Like many successful culinary woman of her day, Eliza originally had literary ambitions. She loved poetry and wrote fiction, but she turned to cookbook writing after her father died and needed to earn a living. As I said above, her Directions for Cookery was the best selling cookbook of the century. It went through 60 editions between 1837 and 1870. Her recipes are lavish and detailed with attention to small nuances and techniques. Her rhubarb jam comes from a long chapter called "Sweetmeats." You can get a facsimile copy for $14.45 at www.foodbooks.com.

A little bit about mom power

Our current Mother's Day was established in 1914 by Woodrow Wilson and has become a consumer extravaganza. We pamper the woman who gave us birth. We lavish them with gifts. We give them the day off from the kitchen.

The original spirit of the holiday couldn't be more different. Older versions of Mother's Day emphasize female strength.

The American Mother's Day traces back to the 1850s when a woman named Anna Jarvis established "Mother's Work Days" in which women would go out and help improve the sanitary conditions of their communities in West Virginia. (Remember, these were pre-plumbing days when diseases like cholera regularly mowed people down.)

In the 1870s, a suffragist named Julia Ward Howe tried to establish a Mother's Day that would be a day when mothers all around the world would protest war and stand up for peace. (Alas, she was not successful.)

Ancient Greeks and Romans celebrated Mother's Days by honoring their great mother goddesses. The Greeks had their Rhea-mother of all gods. And the Romans had their powerful "mountain mother" Cybele, who usually had lions at her side. These women were symbols of fertility and spring and nourishment of the world.

Here's to mom power. Happy Mother's Day. Happy rhubarb.

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