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We're talking a lot of rhubarb, here. I'll make rhubarb sorbet, of course, and probably rhubarb strawberry crisp. I'm not a huge fan of rhubarb pie. And I don't do anything that involves preserving, no jams or jellies or anything. So, what else? It's going crazy out there...
posted
Mmmm, rhubarb. I grew up in Texas so I don't know much about it but my grandma always makes a yummy rhubarb sauce, kind of like an applesauce. Lots of uses for it but I just liked eating it with lunch or dinner. Here is a neat website on rhubarb, and I've linked to the recipe section.
Now that I live in the midwest I wonder if I could buy some... but then what I would I be motivated to do with it? Hmmmm.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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I don't have a freezer except for the one that's part of the refrigerator, which is awfully full... and then that still begs the question of what the heck I do with it after I freeze it.
Raia, be careful, I still have your address, and I don't think it will smell too good by the time it gets there...
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I would make Rhubarb Mousse With Strawberry-gin Sauce tonight, but I have no gin and the liquor stores are closed on Sundays. Looks good!
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We used to stew it every now and again. ~6 cups rhubarb, spoon of lemon juice, ~1 cup of sugar depending on your sweet tooth and some salt if you're one of those people that requires salt in everything you make when 9 times out of 10 it makes it taste worse. Add just enough water to cook, bring to a boil and simmer for ~45 minutes. Toss in the sugar and heat until it's dissolved and taste to see if it's sweet enough for you. Keep adding sugar until it is.
You can play around with it. Add cinimon, use it as an ice cream topping, add strawberry jam. I hear some people add balsamic vinegar rather than sugar and use it as a sour salsa, but that seems wrong to me.
*shrug* just play with it.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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BtL's recipe sounds like what I do to make sorbet, except then of course I chill it and put it in my ice cream maker.
Anyway, I am trying the Gingery Rhubarb Sauce With Almonds from Theca's link tonight. My problem, kinda, is that most of the recipes are for sweet things and desserts, and I don't eat dessert very often. Perhaps I'll try some of the salsa recipes...
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On the link I posted, there's one (on the second page) for Rhubarb Chutney, one for Chicken with Rhubarb, and as I said before, Rhubarb and Onion Relish.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by ElJay: My problem, kinda, is that most of the recipes are for sweet things and desserts, and I don't eat dessert very often.
Really? Maybe you need to find a way to blend rhubarb and chocolate... Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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kq, your link also has some interesting beverage recipes. I'm thinking I'll be mixing up a batch of the rhubarb slush tonight, too.
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I like sweets, I just don't need to be baking up an entire pie or 12 when I live by myself. 'Cause then, of course, I have to eat it before it goes bad. Maybe I'll bring rhubarb bars to work. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Nuh-uh. Rhubarb pie with a dash of cream, a bit of flour, not too much sugar, a dash of salt, and a pinch of nutmeg, in a vinegar pie crust with a lattice-top sprinkled with sugar crystals is better!
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Carve rhubarb action figures. (Conan the Rhubarbarian) Fling rhubarb at passing cars. Give rhubarb out next Halloween for a really scary Treat. Give each rhubarb a name, prop them up around the house, and talk to them. Rhubarb Bowling. Make a rhubarb-trebuchet in your backyard. See how many rhubarb you can balance in a tall stack.
Just thought you could use some non-edible suggestions, too.
I'm a bit closer than Raia, but I expect mailing it is still a bad idea.
Sadly, because I've been really craving some. I hope the market has some in this time -- they didn't the last I checked, a couple weeks back.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Make pies or crisps and sell them. You friends and neighbors will love you for it. I love strawberry rhubarb pie and crisp. Yummy.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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When I lived in Canada, I, ahem, liberated some from backyards at 3 am with a friend. All because it was the only way I could get some. Rhubarb crisp, rhubarb jam, rhubarb chutney - those were my favorites.
I think now I'm going to have to see if I can find a rhubarb plant here to plant in the garden of our new place. To go along with the herb garden I plan on planting.
But I'm still jealous. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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cobbler...I have it on good authority that if you do a layer of rhubarb, then biscuit, then custard, and another layer of biscuit it'll taste really good
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Harvest Moon and Victory Seeds both sell rhubarb seed, the Vicoria strain which is apparently the best for cooking (It's not currently available from Burpee's.)
If neither of them will ship to you, or not cheap enough, let me know; I want to get some anyway, so I'll send it to you with your tahini (which I've bought now) and your chocolate (which I haven't yet) when I send them. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Coolness! (I've been saying that a lot lately. I think I should just shoot myself.)
quote: Plant ¼" deep indoors, 6-8 weeks prior to last frost. After hardening off, transplant into deeply cultivated, well-drained beds into which generous amounts of organic matter and composted manure have been added. Final spacing should be 18-24".
Rhubarb is a cool season crop that requires temperatures below 40° F to break dormancy and to stimulate good spring growth. For growth to remain vigorous, summer temperatures should average less than 75° F. This means that the Northern U.S. and Canada are best suited for rhubarb production.
It is best to wait until the second year before harvesting stalks and even then, be conservative. Pull the stalks instead of cutting. Remove flower stalks as soon as you see them. You will not get full harvests until the third year. Rhubarb plantings will be productive for 15 years or longer.
I could have problems. As in, I don't think it'll grow here. It's probably grown in the hill country - Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, and such - because that's the only part of the country that gets cool, although even there, there's no frost or anything remotely resembling it.
I'll have to see if I can find out if it's possible to grow it in a hot climate, or if there's another species that will, or if I'm just out of luck.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I have found mention of one variety that can grow in the souther states, but I don't have a link to it yet. What I will do, however, is talk to some of the women from church and see what they know. Rhubarb exists in the grocery stores here, albeit on a limited basis. (Same as mint, cilantro, and parsley - I can't get them as regularly as I'd like them, so I'm resorting to growing my own, courtesy of seed packets my sister brought me from Canada. And when they fly here in September, I'll have another list of seeds for her to bring. )
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I can either grow rhubarb here as an annual from seed. In other words, plant it and pick everything that grows, and start from seed again as soon as I want more.
Or I can possibly grow it in light shade with the full understanding that the stalks will be thinner than what you will get in your colder climes. If I go this method, then from seeds, I'm not going to get any crop the first year. I'll have to wait until year 2, and I'm impatient.
Here's what I'm going to do, now that Eljay and ketchupqueen have lit a fire under my collective rhubarb butt... I'm going to talk to some women from church, see what they know and see if they have an existing rhubarb plant or know someone who does. If I can get a, whatchamacallit, rhizome or plant or whatever that's been divided, then I can harvest that sooner. Better for my impatient soul. Plus it'll also be a variety that's known here.
And yes, I'm growing a garden, probably mostly in pots, at the new house. Fahim isn't looking forward to it simply because he thinks it'll be a hassle for him, what with him having to water every day. Ahem. Never mind that he's never actually watered my aloe plant. Ever. The one and only lonely plant I have. It needs friends. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The problem, from what I've read, is that rhubarb requires cold to something something something something, and if it doesn't get cold enough, then the stalks will wind up being green instead of pink or red and spindly instead of thick and juicy.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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