Rhubarb

Rhubarb has never been a favorite of mine.  When I was younger I could never understand how people could grab a piece of it and eat it as is.  I could never understand the fascination some people have with it. 

When I think of rhubarb and my youth there are two memories that are predominate: (1) being afraid of bears when going to look at the Rhubarb patch at my grandparent’s campground and (2) being annoyed with all the tourists that just had to have a piece of Yukon Rhubarb Strawberry pie. (Little did they know there was nothing “Yukon” about most pies.)         

As I get older I appreciate the taste and texture a little more and enjoy the tartness of it.  I have a few muffin and cake recipes I use it in.  I also use it as a substitute for apple in some recipes.   A word of caution, you have to be careful when cooking with rhubarb as it can make your end product very moist.

 Our rhubarb plant is huge.  Some of the stalks at the base of the plant are over 2.5 inches in diameter.  When the plant gets too big and goes to seed, we will probably cut it down to the dirt and let it re-grow. 

I think this year I might have to take advantage of this huge plant and experiment with different recipes.  As it’s early in the year, I’m not concerned about harvesting rhubarb for future use.  Every time I need some for a recipe I’ll go cut a few stalks.  When fall does approach I may consider freezing some for the winter months. 

The nice thing about rhubarb if you are going to use it in baking is you don’t have to blanche it before you freeze it.  It will go mushy after freezing but it goes mushy when you bake it anyway, just add it to your recipe while it is frozen.  

Helpful Hint: Before you freeze it, be sure to prep the rhubarb as if you were prepping it for your baking.  It also helps to freeze it in bags or containers in the quantities that you use in your baking.  EX: one of my recipes calls for 1 cup of rhubarb so I place one cup of chopped rhubarb in each bag.  When I do my baking I already know how much is in the bag/container so I merely have to dump it in.