Do you have a favourite way of cooking rhubarb?

Rhubarb pies?

I like making stewed rhubarb. I pick rhubarb stems in late summer, cut them up into cubes, and boil them in a little water. I add enough sugar to sweeten, and then serve it in small bowls after chilling it. It’s a really refreshing and yummy dessert.

I had only ever heard of rhubarb in pies until one of my friends told me that it tastes great raw. Here’s a recipe for a raw rhubarb, cucumber and mint salad that sounds really refreshing.

But if you specifically want something that is cooked, the same author from the above site has this amazing sounding lentil and rhubarb stew with Indian spices. You can see it here

I love chutney of any kind and this one on Epicurious makes really great use of rhubarb. You can see it here

And last, but not least, this yummy sounding tangy borscht from Yoga Journal uses both beets and rhubarb. It’s so pretty that it would make a nice soup for the holidays and it would keep you warm!

Great question. I’d never heard of using it for anything but pies. I am definitely going to floow this. I’m getting introduced to a new vegetable.

To all my fellow Flutherites on this thread, I should mention that the leaves of the rhubarb plant are highly toxic and should never be eaten. A few years ago, I read in the newspaper about a couple of boys who made “lemonade” with rhubarb, but accidentally added leaves to the pitcher, along with the sliced rhubarb stalks. They drank it and ended up in the hospital with damaged kidneys. They almost died from the deadly concoction.

I like rhubarb with strawberrries in a cobbler or compote. It’s great over vanilla ice cream.

@MRSHINYSHOES I looked it up. Wikipedia warns that the leaves contain oxalic acid, which is a nephrotoxin; i.e., a poison that attacks the kidneys. It says you;d need to consume quite a bit for a lethal does, but even a little kidney damage is best avoided. Thanks for the warning.

@ETpro Those boys must have ate quite a bit then, or used a lot of leaves in their lemonade. I’m glad I didn’t pay them for a 25 cent cup of the stuff at their lemonade stand! Lol. Egads.

Here is a recipe for rhubarb chutney. It is delicious.

750g rhubarb stalks
500g cooking apples, peeled and cored
2 onions, finely sliced
250ml distilled malt or white wine vinegar
250ml white wine
300g light soft brown sugar
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
2tbsp mustard seeds, yellow or brown
1tsp ground allspice
1tsp ground ginger
100g sultanas
1tbsp salt

Wash and trim the rhubarb, discarding any leaves, and chop into 2cm lengths. Chop the apples. Place the rhubarb, apples and onions in a heavy-based, non-reactive pan with the vinegar and wine, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes until the onions are tender.

Add the sugar, chilli, mustard seeds, allspice, ginger, sultanas and salt, stirring, and continue to simmer for 45 minutes to one hour, stirring occasionally, until it is good and thick.

Remove from the heat for ten minutes, then spoon the chutney into hot, dry, sterilised jars and seal. Keep in a cool, dry place for two weeks before opening.

Wonderful with roast pork, game and venison sausages.

Makes 1 litre. Takes 1½ hours.

layer an ovenproof dish with chopped and cleaned raw rhubarb, sprinkle on sugar to taste then cover with crumble mix (I use the basic crumble mix recipe made from flour, sugar and butter/ margarine) but there are lots of ideas here,

Once covered with crumble mix, pop into oven around 180 degrees till you can pop a knife easily through the rhubarb without any resistance,(25–35 mins approx) then you’ll know the rhubarb is cooked. Remove from oven and sprinkle sugar across the top. Serve with cream, custard or rhubarb flavoured yoghurt, the later (activia) is my favourite yuuuummmmmmmmmm. Apple crumble is lovely too.
hugs xx

I make a similar crumble to @bunnygrl‘s but I stew the rhubarb first with a little water and a fair bit of sugar.

My favorite ways to use it are Rhubarb Crisp (crumble) and Rhubarb bread, (a sweet bread kind of like banana bread.)

Rhubarb crumble. mmmm. I don’t make it myself, but I do love it.

In addition the best thing about crumble is the smell….. ooooooooooooooooo goes all through the house when its cooking (apple does exactly the same) causing the drool factor to increase considerably… bit like watching the gorgeous Mr Rickman, he makes me drool a lot too lol.

WARNING: remember to let your crumble cool when it comes out of the oven, nothing wrong with serving it hot (its lovely actually) but when it first emerges from the oven it has a tendency to be the temperature of molten lava. Enjoy your crumble but be careful it’s not too burny first :-)
hugs xx

I would love to hear Alan Rickman say Strawberries and Rhubarb Crumble. Prrrrrrrrrrrr.

You can quickly cook it in the microwave with some sweetener- I use Stevia and spices – keep it refrigerated and like @bunnygrl said it’s yummy with yogurt for breakfast. (I like Greek Gods Honey Vanilla best)
It’s also fantastic added to zucchini bread.

Wow, I never realised rhubarb was so popular! Many thanks to everyone for their suggestions… rhubarb crumble sounds excellent, as does rhubarb chutney… lots of ideas, thank you thank you : ^)

@bunnygrl & @Kardamom I revisited Truly Madly Deeply yesterday, such a treat : ^)

@Adagio I think you and me and @bunnygrl should start a club called Rhubarb and Rickman!

@Kardamom “Strawberries and Rhubarb Crumble” stop that!!! lol, now I have him in my head saying “the air was thick with spices…..” <squeeeeeeesssss and falls over completely turned into a small droolysaurus> oh dear, I fear I need to renew my acquintance with Colonel Brandon again….. <sighs>.

@Adagio TMD reduces me to a pile of tears and hankies and well it just makes me come over all unneccessary,its just a completely wonderful film <hugs>

@Kardamom what a brilliant idea!! we could have a club t shirt (imagine the fun designing that lol) and call ourselves the Rickman Rhubarbs, imagine the look on his face if we were to turn up to meet him with a little banner, would he ask… lol lol :-)
huggles xx

@bunnygrl Now I shall never be able to face the produce section of the grocery store without thinking of Severus Snape with a rhubarb wand! ; p

@Kardamom LOL LOL LOL <hugs> farmers market will never be the same again “Roll up roll up!! get them fresh here! get your Rickman’s Rhubarb!!” LOL LOL LOL brilliant!
huggles honey xx

Have you watched The Barchester Chronicles…1982 television mini-series, Rickman plays Obadiah Slope, a name particularly well suited to the wonderfully un-likeable character he plays, most definitely worth watching.

@Adagio You betcha I have! I LOVE Alan in that role. He’s like a young Severus Snape what with his creepy personality and that wonderful Snape-like priest robe. I loved all of the othe characters in that series too, especially Donald Pleasance. I should like to re-watch it.

Brachester Towers was great and I want to be in the Rickman and Rhubarb Club, too!

So now there are 4 of us in the Rickman and Rhubarb Club! Too funny : )

P.S. I’m going to see Alan in the Harry Potter movie today—squee!

I am such a boob- I wrote “Brachester Towers” – ha!

@janbb As long as you liked it that’s ok. Alan Rickman makes me say and do weird things too. Ha Ha.

Just saw Harry Potter yesterday. It was very good, but I was sorely disappointed that Alan was only on the screen for about 5 minutes! I guess I should have waved my Rhubarb wand.
Ah, but he looked beautiful… sigh.

Rhubarb is barbaric.Gah!

@Coloma Each to her own : ^)

Rhubarb must be made into a pie. It’s that or eternal dumb-nation. I like Boston Strawberry Rhubarb Pie because I love to “lightly flour my bottom surface.” I really like to roll it out evenly. So when my pastry isn’t hot enough, I find it’s worth leaving the counter for a time to “warm it up”.