Honey Lemon Rhubarb Butter {To Can or Freeze}

An incredible, easy, 3 ingredient rhubarb butter sweetened with honey and flavored with lemon that may just change the way you think about rhubarb.

I’m starting an unofficial “Rhubarb Week” today because I realized that I’m woefully lacking in rhubarb recipes even though I grow it and harvest it each spring. Oh, sure I’ve posted a Spicy Rhubarb Chutney that makes pork so good you wouldn’t believe it (and makes a fine salad dressing, too) and I have a Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce that I will occasionally make to have in the freezer. But none of the muffins, bars, tarts or baked goods that I make every season.

Well, that will change starting with this yummy recipe for preserving your harvest – so get ready for rhubarb! (Update: go here to see all the rhubarb recipes I’ve added.)

And friends, I’m starting with a rhubarb butter that will throw everything you thought you knew about rhubarb out the window:

• Think you don’t like rhubarb? Um, I dare you to try this.
• Think you’ve been-there-done-that with fruit butters? Not even close.

This honey lemon rhubarb butter is simply to.die.for.

Which, to be honest, surprised the heck out of me. When I was creating this, I thought it would be okay – maybe even good as I added my favorite lemon flavor. But I wasn’t sure – lemon isn’t known for being sweet and rhubarb is usually paired with sweet things like strawberries and oranges. But since I like things on the tart side, I persevered – and am I ever glad I did.

Honey Lemon Rhubarb Butter

I think this rhubarb butter is pretty much a perfect balance of sweet-tart, though you could add a bit more honey if you want it sweeter. And the ingredients are so simple and real: just rhubarb, honey and lemon with a bit of water. Yep, that’s it – three ingredients!

Oh, but the flavor isn’t simple at all – something magical happens when you cook these ingredients for a couple hours until thick and smooth (the photos above show how it looks like at different stages of cooking and how deeper colored and thicker it is at almost 2 hours). I pretty much ate it right from a spoon.

Though of course it’s terrific on muffins (why not double up on the rhubarb by serving with a glazed orange rhubarb muffin?), toast and desserts like vanilla ice cream, butter cakes or shortbread. Oh, just writing this is giving me more ideas: how about as the jam in thumbprint cookies or the filling in mini tarts? Yes, yes.

That’s assuming there’s anything left after being eaten off the spoon, that is.

You can preserve this rhubarb butter by water-bath canning (see my complete tutorial here – it’s really easy, I promise) or by freezing it, whichever you prefer. This is a small batch recipe, though, making only 3 half pints, so how ever you preserve it, I think you’re going to want to make more.

So here’s your dare – make this, even if you think you don’t like rhubarb, and then let me know if you think it’s as good as we do!

Click the arrow for the full printable recipe!

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