Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Compote – easy to make and used in so many different ways!

This Rhubarb Compote is basically a sauce made with roasted rhubarb and sugar. It has a more liquid consistency than jam as it does not contain so much sugar. It is quick and easy to make and brings a fantastic hit of rhubarb flavour to all kinds of dishes.

What you need to know about this recipe

  • First off, it is very easy to make and I generally make a big batch of it and then use it for a range of different dishes. It is a really good thing to make when you have a seasonal over-supply of rhubarb.
  • Roasting the rhubarb in the oven (step 3) is really important as it intensifies the flavour of the compote.
  • As it has a lower sugar content than jam, it does not keep as long. You need to store it in a sterilised jar (step 7) in the fridge and eat it within 2 weeks.
  • I find that it freezes well and you can keep it for up to six months in the freezer. If you want to freeze it, you will need to transfer it to a suitable, lidded freezer-proof container.
  • You can eat Rhubarb Compote either warm or at room temperature.

What can you do with Rhubarb Compote?

It is a very versatile recipe as it can be eaten straight off or can be used as an ingredient in other recipes. Some of the ways that I use it are as listed below.

  • Use it on its own as a dessert.
  • Spread it on bread like a jam.
  • Use as a filling for cakes and pies.
  • Pour it over other dessert dishes such as ice-cream or yogurt as a sauce.
  • It is also great as a topping for a pavlova. Just spread over a meringue base and top with whipped cream.
  • Use it as an ingredient in other other dessert dishes such as Rhubarb Fool and Rhubarb Roulade.

I love rhubarb now but it took me a while to learn to like it. I was highly motivated as when we moved to our house many years ago there was a large rhubarb plant in the garden. It was in the middle of a flower bed and for the first few years, I did everything I could to get rid of it. I failed and the rhubarb plant thrived and, in the end, I decided to get cooking and make the best of things!

Rhubarb Compote

Other rhubarb recipes

I love rhubarb and have lots of other rhubarb recipes. It addition to compote, it makes a great jam or fruit curd. Rhubarb is also good in many home-baking recipes for cakes or desserts. Some of my favourite rhubarb-flavoured cakes include  Rhubarb Crumble CakeRhubarb Victoria Sandwich Cake and Rhubarb Upside Down Cake. It is also brilliant in a classic Rhubarb Crumble and also in Rhubarb Roulade and Rhubarb Bread and Butter Pudding. It also makes a good basis for cold desserts such as Rhubarb Curd and Rose Ice Cream or Rhubarb Fool. You can also use it to make Rhubarb Cordial and a pretty good Rhubarb Gin liqueur!

Loved this recipe? Checkout the Recipe Index.

Rhubarb ready to roast for compote

Other jam and preserve recipes

Making your own jam and preserves is really easy. They taste delicious, keep for a long time and also you know exactly what is in them. You can moderate the sugar content and also be sure that there are no artificial preservatives. It is also a great way to use a seasonal over-supply of a particular fruit.

My home-made jam recipes use seasonal ingredients and often have a bit of a flavour twist.   For example, my Strawberry Jam is flavoured with rose geranium and my Rhubarb Jam is flavoured with vanilla.    I have some simple jams such as my classic Gooseberry Jam.

Some of my other preserve recipes are a bit more unusual.  I make a delectable Rose Petal Jam which can be used in lots of different ways.  I also have a Chilli Jam which is fantastic as a dip or with savoury dishes.

Loved this recipe? Checkout the Recipe Index.

Easy Rhubarb Compote recipe

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Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb Compote

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 30
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 400 ml of compote 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: English

Description

Rhubarb Compote is very easy to make and can be used in many different ways.  You can eat it on its own as a dessert or as a sauce for ice-cream or yogurt or use to make Rhubarb Fool or Rhubarb Roulade.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 350 g (12 oz) fresh rhubarb stems
  • 100 g (4 oz) caster sugar

Rhubarb ready to roast for compote


Instructions

  1. Set your oven to 180 degrees C/350 F/gas mark 4.
  2. Wash your rhubarb stems and cut into lengths of around 2 cm.
  3. Put the rhubarb pieces and the sugar on a baking tray.   Stir the pieces around so that the sugar is evenly distributed.
  4. Put the baking tray in the oven and cook the rhubarb uncovered for 30 minutes.
  5. Remove the baking tray from the oven.  The rhubarb pieces should be very soft and will have exuded a lot of juice.
  6. Allow the rhubarb to cool on the tray.  When it is cool, put it into a bowl and stir gently.  The pieces should break down and you will be left with a thick puree.   Taste the puree and add some more sugar if you think it needs it.  What you are looking for is a good balance of sweet/sour.  
  7. Remove the mixture from the saucepan and pour into sterilised jam jars – it will fill two medium-sized jars.    It must be kept in the fridge once cooled and will last for two weeks.

Notes

You can sterilise your jam-jars by washing them in warm, soapy water, rinsing well and then drying off for 15 minutes in an oven set at 140C/120C fan/gas 1.

You should have around 400 ml of compote using the quantities in this recipe.

The compote can be eaten on its own as dessert or used as a sauce for icecream or frozen yoghurt.   It can also be used in a range of other dessert dishes such as Rhubarb Fool or Rhubarb Roulade.   

Candied Blood Orange Slices

Easy, seasonal Candied Blood Orange Slices

These Candied Blood Orange Slices are a great way of decorating cakes, such as Blood Orange Cake, and puddings.  They look attractive –  I love the fresh citrus colours –  and also taste good and are very easy to make.

You can make these slices with all types of citrus fruits, such as lemon and limes, grapefruits or little kumquats, in addition to oranges.

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Candied Blood Orange Slices

Candied Blood Orange Slices

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 810 slices 1x
  • Category: Decoration
  • Cuisine: English

Description

These Blood Orange Slices are a really easy way to decorate all kinds of cakes and puddings.  


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 blood orange
  • 125 ml water
  • 75 g caster sugar

Instructions

  1. Thinly slice your blood orange.
  2. Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat gently until the sugar dissolves.  Then increase the heat and bring the mixture up to boiling point.
  3. Put the blood orange slices into the sugar syrup and cook gently for 5 minutes until they are soft and translucent. 
  4. Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Leave the blood orange slices in the sugar syrup and allow to cool.
  5. When cool, remove the blood orange slices from the syrup and use to decorate cakes or desserts.
  6. Don’t throw away the syrup!  It will be a beautiful pink colour and strong orange flavour and is fantastic in cocktails or soft drinks.

 


Notes

If blood oranges are not in season.  This recipe can be used for ordinary oranges.  

Loved this recipe? You may also like the following recipes. Or checkout the Recipe Index.

Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

Candied Lemon and Lime Slices - cake decoration
Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

These Candied Lemon and Lime Slices are a great way of decorating cakes, such as Lemon Drizzle Cake, and puddings.  They look attractive –  I love the fresh citrus colours –  and also taste good and are very easy to make.

You can make these slices with all types of citrus fruits, such as oranges, grapefruits or little kumquats, in addition to lemons and limes.

Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

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Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

Candied Lemon and Lime Slices

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 5
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 8-10 slices 1x
  • Category: Decoration
  • Cuisine: English

Description

These Candied Lemon and Lime Slices are a really easy way to decorate all kinds of cakes and puddings.  Pretty and tasty – and no artificial preservatives!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 lemon or 1 lime
  • 125 ml water
  • 75 g caster sugar

Instructions

  1. Thinly slice your lemon or lime.
  2. Put the water and sugar in a small saucepan.  Heat gently until the sugar dissolves.  Then increase the heat and bring the mixture up to boiling point.
  3. Put the lemon or lime slices into the sugar syrup and cook gently for 5 minutes until they are soft and translucent.
  4. Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Leave the lemon or lime slices in the sugar syrup and allow to cool.
  5. When cool, remove the lemon or lime slices from the syrup and use to decorate cakes or desserts.

Easy Lemon Drizzle Cake

Loved this recipe? You may also like the following recipes. Or checkout the Recipe Index.

Gooseberry Jam

Gooseberry Jam
Gooseberries

Gooseberry Jam

Home-made Gooseberry Jam is a real treat.  It is tangy and fruity and has a good balance of sweet and sour, unlike some shop-bought jams which are too sugary.

I love gooseberries and appreciate their tangy sourness.  Green gooseberries are available from early June onwards and can be used to make a range of sweet and savoury dishes, tempered by the right amount of sugar.   Red or yellow dessert gooseberries, which can be eaten with no preparation,  become available later in the season.   My parents used to grow dessert gooseberries and I have happy memories of sitting under a tree in the garden as a child, reading a book – “Doctor Doolittle”, I think – with a big bowl of freshly-picked gooseberries beside me.

Gooseberries have fallen out of favour in recent years and can be hard to source.   I grow gooseberries in my garden but, if you don’t have the room or inclination to grow your own, you can find them in some supermarkets or independent greengrocers from early June onwards when they are in season.   They are also often available at “pick-your-own” farms.    The green culinary gooseberries are generally easier to source than the dessert gooseberries.   The season is very short so make the most of it!

Gooseberries lend themselves to a range of sweet dishes – tarts, crumbles, fools and  ice-cream and are fantastic in preserves and chutneys.  They are also a traditional accompaniment to some savoury dishes and, due to their tartness, go well with fatty meats such as pork or duck or oily fish such as mackerel.

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Home-made Gooseberry Jam

Gooseberry Jam

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Cook Time: 25
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 2 jam-jars 1x
  • Category: Jam
  • Cuisine: English

Description

Sweet and tangy home-made gooseberry jam is fantastic on crusty bread or as an ingredient in cakes or puddings.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 500 g gooseberries
  • 500 g jam sugar
  • Juice of half a lemon

Instructions

  1. Put gooseberries, lemon juice and 200 ml water in a heavy saucepan
  2. Heat gently to simmering point and then cook for around 10 minutes until fruit is soft.
  3. Add the sugar and continue to heat gently until it is dissolved.
  4. Turn up the heat and boil rapidly for a further 10-15 minutes.  The jam will change to a dark pink colour as it cooks.
  5. You can judge the setting point by putting a saucer in your freezer before making the jam.  Spoon some of the jam onto the cold saucer and leave to cool.  If the surface of the jam crinkles when you push it with your finger, it is ready.  If not, continue boiling and try again after a few more minutes.
  6. Sterilise your jar.
  7. Pour the jam into sterilised jars.  It will keep for about 6 months.   Keep in the fridge once opened.

 


Notes

There are various ways of sterilising jars.  I think the easiest is to wash in soapy water and then put in an oven at 120 C for 15 minutes.

Gooseberries
Gooseberry Jam

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Lavender Sugar and Rose Geranium Sugar

Rose Geranium Sugar recipe
Rose Geranium Sugar

Two Herb Sugars – Lavender Sugar and Rose Geranium Sugar

This recipe tells you how to make two Herb Sugars –  Lavender Sugar and Rose Geranium Sugar.  Both follow the same process and are very easy to make.  You simply place fresh lavender leaves and buds or chopped rose geranium leaves in a jar of sugar.   The sugar will become infused with the scent of the herbs and can then be used as an ingredient to bring a floral flavour to cakes, puddings or other dishes.

About Rose Geraniums

Lavender is quite a common plant in gardens or in pots on balconies.  Rose Geraniums are less well-known.   There are a number of scented varieties of Rose Geranium (which are actually technically pelargoniums) and all have leaves that smell of rose –  I think they actually smell a bit like Turkish Delight!  I have two varieties –  Angels Perfume and Attar of Roses  –  which I bought from Herbal Haven which is a specialist herb nursery.

Rose Geranium leaves can be used in lots of puddings and desserts to add a subtle rose flavour.  I think this is a better way than using rose-petals as you only need a few leaves whereas you need loads of petals (and, really, who wants to destroy their roses?).

Pelargonium
Rose Geranium

About Herb Sugars

Herb Sugars were popular in Victorian times as a way of capturing the flavour of fresh herbs.     Once the sugar has taken on the scent of the herb, it will keep for many months and, in the days when people cooked with what they grew themselves, this allowed herb-scented dishes to be made in winter when there were no fresh herbs available.

It is best to make Herb Sugars in the summer, when the flavour of herbs is at its strongest.   A wide variety of herbs can be used to produce Herb Sugars, in addition to lavender and rose geranium, and some of my favourites include: thyme, rosemary, bay, lemon verbena and mint.

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Lavender sugar recipe

Lavender Sugar

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 1 jam jar 1x
  • Category: Herb Sugar
  • Cuisine: English

Description

Lavender Sugar is produced by allowing the flavour of fresh lavender to infuse into caster sugar which can then be used as an ingredient to bring a floral taste to cakes, biscuits, puddings and other dishes.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 350 g caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh lavender (leaves and/or flowers)

Instructions

  1. Place the caster sugar in a bowl.
  2. Place your chopped lavender on a plate and press with the back of a spoon to encourage it to release its flavour.
  3. Add the chopped lavender to the sugar and mix well.
  4. Transfer the sugar and lavender mixture to a jam jar.
  5. Seal the jar and leave for at least 24 hours, and preferably a week, to allow the flavour to infuse into the sugar.
  6. When you are ready to use the sugar, you can either pass it through a coarse sieve to remove the herb pieces or you can leave them in the sugar.

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Rose Geranium Sugar recipe

Rose Geranium Sugar

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  • Author: Tastebotanical
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 1 jam jar 1x
  • Category: Herb Sugar
  • Cuisine: English

Description

Rose Geranium Sugar is produced by allowing the flavour of fresh rose geranium leaves to infuse into caster sugar which can then be used as an ingredient to bring a floral taste to cakes, biscuits, puddings and other dishes.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 350 g caster sugar
  • 10 rose geranium leaves (finely chopped)

Instructions

  1. Place the caster sugar in a bowl.
  2. Place your chopped rose geranium leaves on a plate and press with the back of a spoon to encourage them to release their flavour.
  3. Add the chopped rose geranium leaves to the sugar and mix well.
  4. Transfer the sugar and rose geranium mixture to a jam jar.
  5. Seal the jar and leave for at least 24 hours, and preferably a week, to allow the flavour to infuse into the sugar.
  6. When you are ready to use the sugar, you can either pass it through a coarse sieve to remove the herb pieces or you can leave them in the sugar.

Notes

In order to make this Herb Sugar, you need to make sure you source Rose Geraniums, such as Angels’ Perfume or Attar of Roses, which have leaves that are strongly rose-scented.

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