20 Farmers’ Market-Approved Rhubarb Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the best thing to do with rhubarb? ›

Rhubarb is a truly special ingredient. With its vivid pink colour and distinctively tangy taste, it can be stewed, poached, roasted and puréed in a range of dishes as well as drinks. Use it in a comforting crumble, a classic syllabub, a fruity chutney or a zingy kebab sauce – the possibilities are endless.

Cut into sticks. Scatter with sugar, add a splash of water and simmer gently for 8 minutes until soft and longer to cook it to a puree or compote.

Many suggest dipping the stalk in sugar or some other sweet, such as honey, maple syrup or agave nectar, to mellow its tartness a touch. Sprinkling diced rhubarb over yogurt or cereal is an option too.

So, in conclusion: You don't have to peel rhubarb before eating it. Of course, you can if you want to. But doing it means that some of the lovely red flavor is going to disappear. I usually just prepare rhubarb by rinsing it and then cutting it into thin slices!

You can freeze rhubarb raw, blanched or fully cooked. Regardless of which stage you choose to freeze at, the rhubarb will break down more as it defrosts, so it's best used in dishes where you don't need neat sticks of it.

If you already have kidney disease, avoid rhubarb. Kidney stones: Rhubarb contains a chemical that the body can convert into kidney stones. If you have ever had kidney stones, don't take rhubarb.

Rhubarb and chicory can be forced in late winter by covering with a forcing jar or bucket, or by placing potted plants in the dark, to produce earlier, paler, sweeter growth. Hyacinths and other spring bulbs are often forced, so they flower earlier indoors.

Rhubarb contains a group of compounds called sennosides (also found in senna), which can act as natural laxative, helping to prevent constipation. It's also a useful source of dietary fibre which helps keep the digestive system healthy.

Rhubarb is acidic – you shouldn't cook it in aluminium, copper, or iron pans that react. In metal pans, rhubarb turns brownish and the pan discolours. Instead, cook rhubarb in coated pans or glass baking pans.

Rhubarb is a unique vegetable that people use in cooking and baking. Since it may be high in oxalate, you should avoid eating too much of it and try to select stalks from low-oxalate varieties. If you are prone to kidney stones, it might be best to avoid rhubarb altogether.

Is A rhubarb A Vegetable or a fruit? ›

Rhubarb is a vegetable often thought to be a fruit. There's actually a good reason for this confusion: in 1947 the USDA classified it as a fruit because the tariffs on bringing fruits into the country were lower on fruits than vegetables. In actuality though, rhubarb is a vegetable - a member of the buckwheat family.

Of course, it does need sweetener; it's so sour without it! 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.

Cardamom, orange and cinnamon all lift the flavour while keeping it a classic.

Consumed raw, rhubarb has an intensely tart flavor that's not generally liked. But toss it with sugar and bake it into cake, pie, shortbread or jam, and rhubarb's bitterness fades and becomes delicious.

You don't need to peel peak-season rhubarb, but by midsummer, the stalks tend to be tough and fibrous. You might need to peel them to make them tastier.

Whole stalks of rhubarb should be placed unwashed in an open Glad^® Zipper Bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. To cut rhubarb, wash and dry the stalks and remove tough ends. Cut the fruit into 1- to 2-inch lengths.

The interaction of acidic rhubarb cooked in reactive metal pots (aluminum, iron, and copper) will turn the rhubarb an unappetizing brown color. Metal ions flaking off the pan will interact with acids in the fruit to form brown compounds that darken both the pan and the rhubarb. Rhubarb is best preserved by freezing.