Aunt Sally's Rhubarb Sauce

This is an awesome, classic jam recipe, for whenever you can get your hands on some fresh rhubarb. Wow, it’s delicious!

In recent years, I’ve been compiling, transcribing, and annotating the trove of recipes I’ve accumulated from all my relatives. This recipe had several iterations, since Mom had a copy, Grandma Renner had a copy, and Great Aunt Lyddie had a copy. Aunt Lyd’s was handwritten and tucked into her copy of Cooking with Faith, the 1975 church-ladies cookbook from her Faith Lutheran church here in Jefferson City. “Sally” in the title is my aunt Sally Renner, my mom’s sister-in-law.

This is made with Jell-O, but it’s definitely supposed to be used like jam. The recipe ends with: “Good on hot rolls.” Or biscuits! Or pancakes and waffles! Or ice cream! Or . . . !

• 3 c. rhubarb, cut in small pieces
• 1 c. frozen strawberries, or 1 small can drained, crushed pineapple
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 3 oz. pkg. banana-strawberry Jell-O or mixed fruit Jell-O [see below]

Cook rhubarb, strawberries (or pineapple) at a rolling boil for 8–10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in package of Jell-O. Pour into jars or molds, and chill overnight until set. Can be left, covered, in the refrigerator for a week or more. Good on hot rolls.

Julie’s notes:

• They don’t make “Mixed Fruit” flavor Jell-O anymore, do they. The strawberry-banana flavor works really well; strawberry Jell-O works fine, too.
• I’ve used thinly sliced dried pineapple instead of canned, and that works, too.