A delicious 3 ingredient Vanilla-Scented Rhubarb jam is perfect on your morning toast, with afternoon tea scones or even in a cheddar cheese sandwich! Sweet and tart, with a subtle hint of vanilla, it is a wonderful way to preserve rhubarb for winter!
Rhubarb and vanilla is a great pairing. Just think about an age-long combination of rhubarb and custard and you will understand. Instead of vanilla beans, we used vanilla bean paste in this recipe. As a matter of fact, we always use Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste in our recipes – it’s extremely fragrant, a little goes a long way and works out a lot cheaper than using vanilla pods. But if you insist on using vanilla beans, simply cut 4 vanilla pods in half, scrape out all the seeds and add to the jam, alongside the emptied pods. Remove the pods before pouring the jam into jars.
This vanilla-scented Rhubarb Jam is sweet but retains a lot of the rhubarb tartness. I have reduced the sugar amount compared to the usual 1 part fruit : 1 part sugar in this recipe, as I find jams cooked with 50% sugar taste too sweet for me and the fruit in it loses its flavour to sugar.
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How to Sterilise Jars?
Clean sterilized jars are crucial to the success and longevity of any jams and other preserves you make. Sterilizing is an important part of preserving to remove bacteria, yeasts or fungi, therefore your jams and preserved are protected and safe to eat for longer.
To sterilise your jars, preheat the oven to 120°C Fan. Pour boiling water right up to the top into your clean jars and metal lids. Pour the water out and place the jars and lids apart in the preheated oven. Heat for 15 minutes. Switch off the oven and leave the jars to cool down before removing them from the oven.
How to Make our Vanilla-Scented Rhubarb Jam?
Wash the rhubarb and cut it into 3 cm pieces.
Put the rhubarb, vanilla bean paste and sugar in a large pan and stir to combine. Place the pan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely.
Increase the heat to medium and bring the rhubarb to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until your jam reaches 105 C. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Skim off any scum that forms on the surface. Carefully pour the rhubarb jam into sterilised jars (more on sterilising above). Store jam in a cool dark cupboard, and eat within 5 months.
For other preserving recipes, have a look at our absolute favourites below:
- Plum & Red Onion Chutney
- Preserved Lemon (coming soon)
- Simple Blueberry/ BIlberry Jam

Vanilla-Scented Rhubard Jam
Equipment
- 2 x 280 ml jars
- Kitchen thermometer (optional)
Ingredients
- 500 g rhubarb
- 380 g preserving/ jam sugar with added pectin
- 4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste we used Nielsen Massey
Instructions
- Wash the rhubarb and cut into 3 cm pieces.
- Put the rhubarb, vanilla bean paste and sugar in a large pan and stir to combine. Place the pan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved completely.
- Increase the heat to medium and bring the rhubarb to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until your jam reaches 105° C. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Skim off any scum that forms on the surface. Carefully pour the rhubarb jam into sterilised jars (more on sterilising above). Store jam in a cool dark cupboard, and eat within 5 months.
Nutrition

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