Ingredient: Rhubarb
Category: Fruit
Season: March to July
Rheum is a genus of perennial plants that grow from thick short rhizomes. The genus is in the family Polygonaceae, and includes the vegetable rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum or Rheum x hybridum.)
The plants have large leaves that are somewhat triangular shaped with long fleshy petioles.
The flowers are small, greenish-white to rose-red , and borne in large compound leafy inflorescences.
A number of varieties of rhubarb have been domesticated both as medicinal plants and for human consumption.
While the leaves are toxic , the stems are used in pies and other foods for their tart flavor.
The plant is indigenous to Asia , and many suggest that it was often used by the Mongolians; particularly, the Tatars tribes of the Gobi. The plant has grown wild along the banks of the Volga for centuries; it may have been brought there by Eurasian tribes, such as the Scythians, Huns, Magyars or Mongols.
Varieties of rhubarb have a long history as medicinal plants in traditional Chinese medicine , but the use of rhubarb as food is a relatively recent innovation, first recorded in 17th century England, after affordable sugar became available to common people.
Rhubarb is now grown in many areas , primarily for its fleshy petioles, commonly known as rhubarb sticks or stalks .
In temperate climates rhubarb is one of the first food plants to be ready for harvest , usually in mid to late spring (April/May in the Northern Hemisphere, October/November in the Southern).
The petioles can be cooked in a variety of ways:
Stewed, they yield a tart sauce that can be eaten with sugar and other stewed fruit or used as filling for pies (rhubarb pie), tarts, and crumbles. This common use led to the slang term for rhubarb, "pie plant".
In Germany , this slang term is also used; the common name being Rhabarber in German.
Cooked with strawberries or apples as a sweetener , rhubarb makes excellent jam.
It can also be used to make wine and as an ingredient in baked goods.
The stalks can vary in colour from green, through to speckled pink, to deep red. Although the red-coloured stalks are more popular with consumers, the green-stalked rhubarb is more robust and has a higher yield.
The colour is not related to its suitability for cooking .
In former days, a common and affordable sweet for children in parts of the United Kingdom and Sweden was a tender stick of rhubarb, dipped in sugar.
In the UK the first rhubarb of the year is grown by candlelight in dark sheds dotted around the noted "Rhubarb Triangle" of Wakefield, Leeds and Morley
Rhubarb is an extremely British fruit, arriving at a very important time in the calendar, early spring, when there's absolutely no other interesting fruit in season.
It really is a curious, wonderfully different fruit, no other comes to us as an elongated stalk.
As early as March, we can buy the tender, pink stalks of forced rhubarb, which have a delicate, youthful flavour.
In May, we begin to see that the rhubarb is a deeper, rosier red.
In June and July, it will be dark crimson, more acid and less sweet, so a little more sugar is needed at this time.
Use it in crumble, in pies, or in Old-fashioned Rhubarb Trifle.
Preparing and cooking rhubarb:
Trim off the leaves and cut the stalks into 1 inch (2.5 cm) chunks.
Never, ever simmer or boil rhubarb because it tends to mash up.
To keep the pieces intact, it's best to bake it in the oven.
Add 3 oz (75 g) of sugar to each 1 lb 8 oz (700 g) of fruit,
Pre-heating the oven to gas mark 4, 350 F (180 C).
Place it in a shallow dish and give it 30-40 minutes, uncovered.
This will serve four people. |