Strawberry Rhubarb pie filling canning project

The rhubarb in our garden was planted last year. Directions say that you should wait a year before harvesting any stalkers, so I impatiently waited. This year the plant is huge and producing well enough that I pulled enough stalks to can strawberry rhubarb pie filling. Wow, it is good and good looking!
Here is my recipe:
6 C. Rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
10-11 C. Fresh strawberries quarter or halves, depending on size
3 cups granulated white sugar
1 cup clear gel or cornstarch ( which ever you prefer. I like the clear gel. I think it holds up better as the product stands on the shelf through the winter)
9 cups of water
Juice of 1 lemon
Red food coloring
2-3 teaspoons of grated orange rind (optional)
First thing- after preparing the fruit, get a water bath going to process the bottled fruit. For more information about home canning, go to freshpreserving.com
In a large pot, mix the sugar and clear jell until thoroughly blended. Add the water and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. It will be quite thick! Add the fruits and return to a boil. Lower heat to keep the mixture warm, but not boiling. You don't want the fruits to over-cook!
Add the lemon juice and orange rind (if you like), and red food coloring to your preference of color.
Ladle into quart jars leaving 1 inch of headspace. Don't skimp on the headspace as this mixture really expands! Process quarts for 25 minutes. I got about 7 quarts from this recipe. I made some extra and made a big tart, or as I call it, a lazy pie! I will post more about that another day!