Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

This is a sauce that tastes incredible on vanilla ice cream. It reminds me of when I was very young. Mom would have given my sister and I a bath before bed--my hair would be wet and brushed back away from my face, and I'd have on soft cotton pajamas. We'd go out on the porch and chase lightening bugs in our front yard, and Dad would bring us bowls of ice cream with this awesome sauce to enjoy on the creaky porch swing, wrapped in one of Granny's quilts. A good memory.

Here's how it's done.

Wash, trim, and cut about 12 oz of rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces. Combine these pieces with 4 cups of sugar, and mix well until at least some of the sugar has dissolved. Cover, and let "steep" in the fridge for up to 12 hours. When you take it out of the fridge the next day, it'll look like this:

Put the rhubarb/sugar mixture into a pot and bring the mixture to a bowl. Meanwhile, wash and hull one quart of fresh strawberries. I also like to cut the berries in half.  Once the rhubarb/sugar mixture has come to a bowl, add the strawberries.

Stir the mixture well to incorporate the berries.

Return to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce the heat and simmer, stirring, until thickened, about 15 minutes, continuing to stir until thickened. It'll start to look like this as it boils.

After the 15 minutes, remove from the heat and skim off any foam. The berries and rhubarb basically melt into the sugar, leaving a thick, richly colored, amazingly tasty sauce that looks like this:

I froze the majority of this batch, as it does make quite a lot, and a little bit goes a long way. Pour over your favorite vanilla ice cream, and enjoy!