I grew up in New England and rhubarb was always a staple of our garden. I remember my mom telling my father that she didn’t care how much ^%$& rhubarb there was in the garden, he should leave the darn stuff there! It grew like a weed! Here in the south, it is considered an ‘exotic’ garden plant! I planted a root a couple years ago and it has been slow to take off but I am finally starting to get actual rhubarb from it! It is great just eaten straight dipped in a bowl of sugar but you can make it into pies, crisps, sauces and all sorts of other things! Here is a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Compote…it is great over a bowl of vanilla icecream! I got the recipe from the Rhubarb Compendium seeing as my mom didn’t have one readily available…her’s is more a ‘throw all the stuff in a pot and cook’ sortof suggestion!
Ingredients:
3 Cups chopped rhubarb (green or pink, it doesn’t matter)
1 Cup chopped strawberries
1/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup water
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Procedure:
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine rhubarb, sugar and water. Bring to simmer, then turn heat very low. Cook without stirring for about 2 hours. When the rhubarb is very soft, add the strawberries and cook for another hour or so. Stir gently. The ratio of rhubarb to berries is flexible, as is the amount of sugar.
My favorite thing to do with this is to put it over a high quality vanilla ice cream! If you want it to be a brighter red you can add food coloring or something like cherry extract. My kids aren’t thrilled with the color but it sure does taste good!
Diane has a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology with a Minor in Health Management and Policy. She spent many years working in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging as a way to share this knowledge with others. While passionate about health and the environment she can’t quite give up her favorite Cheetos and Diet Coke! Learn more about her HERE.
Want some more rhubarb? I have 2 HUGE plants full 🙂
my poor plant only had 8 stalks and I took 5 for my recipe! I hope I didn’t shock the poor thing to death!