If you asked me what to pair with rhubarb, I guarantee you that dark chocolate would not be one of the things I would list. Berries, raisins, honey and sugar, sure. But rhubarb has such a pervasive sour punch and never-ending stringiness that adding another bitter flavour just seemed... wrong.
That said, leave it to the brilliance of food bloggers to come up with something incredible. Skoraq Cooks had posted a recipe with just this pairing a few years ago that not only paired sour rhubarb and bitter chocolate, but added molasses as well. Since I was making this for my mom (not a huge rhubarb fan, but a lover of chocolate) I swapped out the relatively bitter molasses for local honey, and added tart cherry juice (from Cheribundi's lovely gift pack) for a hint of fruitiness.
As the rhubarb, cherry juice, honey and sugar cook down, the sweet-sour flavour comes into full force. The sugar also somewhat caramelizes, adding a rich depth of flavour to just the rhubarb alone. What got interesting was when I added the chocolate and salt. All of a sudden the mixture went from "strawberry rhubarb jam minus the strawberry" to something so balanced that it almost didn't make it to the toast. In fact, both Mom and I had a spoonful from the pot while it was still warm, and would definitely use it as a topping for cheesecake or chocolate ice cream. Here's to experimenting, and cheers to chocolate for making everything better!
Chocolate Rhubarb Preserve
Makes ~4 cups, 32 (2 tbsp) servings
4 ½ cups rhubarb, chopped into small pieces
¼ cup cherry juice
3 tbsp honey
3/4 cup sugar
50g 70% chocolate, chopped
pinch salt
- Simmer rhubarb, cherry juice, honey and sugar on low heat until thick, stirring occasionally (this took me about 30 minutes).
- Add chocolate and salt, stirring until it melted and well mixed.
- Can 10 minutes in a waterbath.
Calories: 37.9
Total Fat: 0.6 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 1.1 mg
Total Carbs: 8.3 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g
Protein: 0.3 g
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