Rhubarb: A Rosy-Red Garden Bonanza
This flavorful perennial, packed with Vitamin A, lends
itself to some remarkably good eating.
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by
Faith B. Lasher and Daisy Smith
Although rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) is actually a
vegetable, it's generally used as a fruit. And, unlike most
such sweet edibles, this plant is—in many parts of
North America—kitchen-ready from late spring well
into high summer. (Furthermore, given the untimely frosts
that hit a lot of us in 1982, the outlook for a good
harvest—and thus low prices—for many other
pie-makings is gloomy indeed. Cold-hardy rhubarb, however,
is likely to be in good shape in your own plot and a
bargain on the grocers' shelves!)
If you're lucky enough to be able to walk out and gather
the tart stalks from a backyard patch (don't take any under
an inch wide and ten inches long), remember not to cut them
from the plant. Instead, grasp a stalk at its base and
pull, with a slight twisting motion, while gently pressing
down on any tiny new growth to prevent its being plucked up
along with the mature stem. Then, because rhubarb
leaves contain very poisonous oxalic acid, cut
them off . . . together with an inch of stalk.
Once you get your harvest to the kitchen, remember that
though all the traditional dishes given here call for
sugar, you can—if you prefer—simply substitute
equal amounts of honey up to one cup. When larger
quantities are called for, reduce the total amount of any
other liquids in the recipe by 1/4 cup per cup of honey
used. (We wouldn't, however, recommend the use of that
particular sugar substitute in the conserve recipe, as the
citrus juices called for are needed for flavoring and
shouldn't be reduced. You might want to try a date sugar,
though.) Also, lower the oven temperature 20° to
30° to prevent over-browning sensitive honey-sweetened
baked goods.
GRANDMOTHER'S RHUBARB PIE
Rhubarb—used either alone or in combination with such
other fruits as apples, strawberries, or
pineapple—makes so delicious a pie that it's known as
"pieplant".
To make the basic dessert, combine 4 cups of inch-long
rhubarb chunks, 1-1/2 cups of sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, a
dash of salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter . . . put the
mixture in a pastry-lined pan . . . and cover the filling
with a top crust (slash it in a couple of places to let the
steam escape). Bake the pie for about 45 minutes at 425
°F.
