Zippy Rhubarb Ketchup

[jesse_the_k]

A friend’s garden yielded many stalks of rhubarb. Search taught me that Yorkshire UK is the tip of the rhubarb triangle and I experimented from there.

Ingredients

• 860g (large bunch) rhubarb stalks
• 140g white granulated sugar
• 25ml (5 tsp) ginger powder
• 5ml (1 tsp) cumin powder
• 1ml (1/4 tsp) clove powder
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) apple cider vinegar
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) red port

Ketchup is easy and fun!

Equipment

• Large non-reactive bowl with heavy base
• Medium saucepan
• Rimmed baking sheet (13 x 18 inches)
• Immersion blender

Method

1. Trim off leaves and woody base from rhubarb. Slice remaining rhubarb into 3 cm (1 inch) pieces.
2. Toss with sugar and spices in large bowl to macerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F
4. Spread rhubarb on baking sheet
5. Roast until soft. I checked every 15 minutes, shuffling the rhubarb around to ensure even cooking. Time depends on moisture content of rhubarb: 45 minutes for me.
6. Scrape into saucepan
7. Stir in vinegar and port
8. Cover and simmer on medium until thick (around 20 minutes for me)
9. Scrape into large bowl.
10. Boldly deploy immersion blender until homogenous, adding teaspoons of water as needed.
11. Scrape into container with tight lid.
12. Freeze.
13. Thaw for a day in refrigerator before using. Lasts around a week in fridge.

Notes

• Sweetness: Rhubarb bunches vary in weight. My tart approach is 1 part sugar for 6 parts rhubarb. Some recipes show 1:5, or even 1:4. You can always add sugar later to the simmering step 7.
• Quantity: This filled two 240ml (2-cup) containers.
• Easy sweet sour sauce: 100 ml ketchup, thinned with 25ml rice wine vinegar and 25ml soy sauce makes a nice dressing for stir fried anything.
• Simple Rhubarb Sauce: First three ingredients, omit steps 6–8. Good on yogurt or custard or cornbread

York backup link