What should I do with RHUBARB? Any good recipes out there?

[patandchickens]

I don't have anything further to add about rhubarb, sorry, but when your mare has her PerchXFriesian foal you *have* to post pix. That sounds like a fairly logical and maybe really really good cross, I've never seen it and am intrigued!

Pat

 

[farmerlor]

I don't have anything further to add about rhubarb, sorry, but when your mare has her PerchXFriesian foal you *have* to post pix. That sounds like a fairly logical and maybe really really good cross, I've never seen it and am intrigued!

Pat

Are you kidding me? I'll have so many pics you people will hate me! There's actually getting to be quite a few Perch/Friesian crosses in the sporthorse world right now. That heavier bone and longer legs really work fantastically for jumping, hunting and dressage. Me, I just LOVE a draft.

 

[big brown horse]

Hi Hattie the Hen,

Thank you for that awesome information!! Hearing something growing must be quite an experience! I think we all learned something today, right class?

I am in Washington State but the previous owners of my property were from England. They must have had lots of experience growing rhubarb from what it sounds like.

And YES to farmerlor I want to see some pics too! My big brown horse is NOT a product of careful breeding and is rough in design and conformation, (perfect for me because I like anything funny looking) but I have a love for anything Friesian/Draft. AND I know how proud of our babies we all get...from sprout, to infant to animal.

-BBH

 

[Reinbeau]

Hi big brown horse! :happy_flower

Yes, leave it in the ground. in fact you start to blanch from the first moment you see a nobble above the ground. At that point dump a pile of well-rotted compost on top & some straw if you have it but I have used shredded newspaper, water it if it's dry then upturn a large trash bin over the top (no holes in it & it needs to be really much larger than the plant). Then leave it for about a month before you start peeking. The thing with rhubarb is not to pick the whole plant just a few sticks at a time -- that way the plant will go on producing for months. If it starts to flower cut that stalk off , don't try to eat that one it.s not good. If you leave the flower spike on the plant will stop producing new leaf stalks.

Once you have used one plant to blanch for early rhubarb let it rest a year before you do it again. But you can still take off & eat the stalks from it as it ripens in it's normal cycle. So basically you can get by with 2 plants (they get huge 5-6ft across); just blanch each one on alternate years.

There is a small area in the North of England called The Rhubarb Triangle where they take the rhubarb crowns from the fields into some caves to blanch them gradually by candle light. These growers provide all the early stuff sold in the supermarkets etc; it sells for good money as it's so sweet a lovely colour. The funny thing is that in the caves you can actually hear it growing -- a soft creaking noise -- it's eerie!! They show film of it every year on TV when it comes into season.

It is also easy to take root cutting of it in the late fall/early winter. Just dig down & take some of the young pieces from round the outside. It dies back by fall but starts to revive after Christmas. In cold areas they tend to put a bale of straw over it. In Yorkshire I used to put some in a cold frame.

Hope this helps. There are masses of recipes for it on English food sites, have a look see!

Enjoy your weekend. :tools :tools :tools :tools :tools

:rose Hattie :rose

Fascinating info, Hattie, thank you for sharing it!

I don't think we blanch it here, and I happen to have two plants, so next year I will try it. Or maybe I'm wrong and am just going about it the wrong way, this will be the first year I can harvest anything from them.

 

[HiDelight]

make wine or juice from it
dice it up and freeze it (it freezes forever)
make frozen smoothies out of it with strawberries
I love savory rhubarb dishes and add it to soups and stews and use it spread round when I steam stuffed grape leaves
beef or lamb stew with rhubarb is really wonderful

 

[sparkles2307]

I add a cup of chopped rhubarb to my favorite peach pie recipe and thats AMAZING. Also, just whip up a quick rhubarb crisp any time you have too much of it

 

[farmerlor]

I add a cup of chopped rhubarb to my favorite peach pie recipe and thats AMAZING. Also, just whip up a quick rhubarb crisp any time you have too much of it

The quickest thing about rhubarb crisp is how quickly it disappears.

 

[big brown horse]

YUMMY!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi everyone,

If you cook it with an onion cut up fine, a little honey, root ginger, until it's soft, then whiz it all up into a puree & serve with grilled mackerel or sardines, especially good if they are cooked on the BBQ. you will need pieces of lemon to squeeze over the fish. I like it with grilled veggies (tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, aubergines, zucchini etc. You can make the sauce now & freeze it for the summer. I have also used it with duck but with orange juice instead of the lemon.

I hope you like it. HAPPY COOKING as well as GARDENING

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[big brown horse]

I just made a simple strawberry and rhubarb shortcake. It was soooo good, my family totally dug it!

I have tons left in the freezer to use in all of your creative suggestions...THANK YOU!!

Hattie the Hen,

I have a dark colored plastic bin ready to cover up my leftover little rhubarbs to blanch them. If they are about 3 inches high, are they too old to start the blanching process?