Forgotten Rhubarb Recipes • from crumble to fool! (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the most Flavour out of rhubarb? ›

"You want to peel off the first layer, and then you want to simmer it with some brown sugar and ginger," he explains. "Once you let it simmer, and it's soft, let it sit overnight. Now you have these tender ribbons that you can jar up, or you can put them on anything."

Rhubarb has a lot of water, more than you would think when you look at it and cut into it. This means, if you don't add enough thickener to it, the juices will create a soupy filling that is difficult to serve and quite watery.

This pie is a traditional dessert in the United States. It is part of New England cuisine. Rhubarb has long been a popular choice for pies in the Great Plains region and the Midwest Region, where fruits were not always readily available.

Cranberries, due to their tart and slightly sour flavor, which closely resembles rhubarb's tanginess. Quinces, which provide a similar texture and acidity. Tart apples, offering a crunchy texture and a balance between sweet and sour. Raspberries that lend a tart flavor, yet with a different texture.

Rhubarb grows best in an open, sunny site with fertile, moist but free-draining soil. It will also cope in light shade. Avoid ground that gets waterlogged, as plants are liable to rot. If your soil is heavy, plant in raised beds or large containers.

My advice is yes, try honey! The recipe pictured above (and linked below) includes some honey along with the sugar; try making it with just the honey and see how it turns out. Sometimes, depending on how tender and fresh the rhubarb is, I even cut the sugar down by half.

Butter, which encourages both browning and crispness, is the magic ingredient in getting your topping just right, so follow the recipe instructions. But if you feel your topping is still too dry and crumbly, (even for a crumble) add a bit more melted butter, a tablespoon at a time.

Go too hot and the crumble topping with get too dark before the fruit is ready. You'll be left with too-hard fruit and a burnt topping, which will make both you and us sad. If the top could use a little extra browning, jack the temperature or broil it after it's fully baked. Just keep a vigilant watch!

If you use more butter than the recipe calls for, the crumb topping will be melted and greasy. If you don't use enough butter it will be dry and floury.

About history and heritage of Sumner Washington as Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World.

What is rhubarb called in America? ›

Rhubarb is one of the first plants harvested in Michigan gardens and is an early spring treat. It is technically a vegetable, but in the United States, it is eaten as a fruit. Many people call rhubarb the “pie plant.”

In 1770, Benjamin Franklin who at the time was living in London shipped a crate of rhubarb to Philadelphia to his friend, John Bartram, the preeminent botanist of his time. It is generally agreed that 1770 was the year that rhubarb was introduced into the United States.

Etymologically, the names for rhubarb come from two Greek words. 'Rheon' from Persian which was transformed to Latin 'Rheum' and 'Rha'—the ancient name for the Volga River in Russian. Rhuem rhabarbarum is rhubarb from Russia (it reached Russia from China).

Its stalks are deeper red and tinged with green, while its leaves are bright green. It has a more intense flavour and robust texture than the forced variety. Although it can be eaten raw, rhubarb tends to be too tart this way, and it's usually best when cooked with plenty of sugar.

Adding a bit of baking soda to a recipe can help reduce the acidity of your baked rhubarb dish. Rhubarb has versatility for sweet and savoury applications; for instance, it is often part of Iranian and Afghan stews and is used as you would use spinach.

Neutralizing Rhubarb's Acidity

Once the rhubarb has given up its juices, pull it from the oven and stir in a quarter teaspoon of baking soda using a heat-resistant spatula.

Oxalic acid gives rhubarb it's sour taste so forced rhubarb is sweeter than when left to it's own devices.

Forced rhubarb is sweeter than the ordinary kind as it has less oxalic acid. The forced stems are also pinker because plants can't make the green pigment chlorophyll in the absence of sunlight, which makes for nicer-looking desserts.