You probably know rhubarb is very tart...very. It's not something you want to eat raw. When cooked or baked with sugar added, it takes on a really nice flavor...IMO. Kind of like really tart apples with sugar and spices added. You can also mix rhubarb with other fruits, such as apples or berries.

Also, as far as I know, rhubarb's the only vegetable that's used strictly as a fruit.

Be sure to toss the leaves which contain a toxic substance. Pretty sure you'd have to eat a lot to be in the danger zone, but they could still make you sick.

You should get some and try Ann T's pie. :-)

I can't get it. Evidently it is a strictly northern veggie. Sounds interesting.

Is it ever available there frozen? We have neighbors who grow it here in Southern CA. We also had it growing in Michigan when I was a kid.

Hmmmm good question. I'll have to look. I don't buy many frozen veggies.

Rhubarb is plentiful and keeps growing when picked. It's often frozen by people who grow it, and then cooked down with lots of sugar (it's too tart otherwise). It's a great sauce to eat on it's own or on ice cream. I never thought of not being able to buy it frozen.

You could try "Mrs. Miller's Rhubarb Jam" to see if you like the taste before you pursue it any further. As a NJ girl, I grew up with it and just love it! My mom just stewed it and we ate it in a bowl. My mom had a real sweet tooth and so she added plenty of sugar so the sweet/tart flavor was really nice and sweet, yum.

https://www.millershomemadejams.com/  

Janie, my mom made a lot of the sauce, too. Good idea with the jam.

Finding it frozen locally might depend on the demand for it. Some people just aren't fond of rhubarb. Not me...my grandmother's rhubarb pie is one of my fondest food memories. Pies, crisps, tarts, sauce, etc...good stuff! I love making a rhubarb chutney to serve with grilled pork or chicken.

cookebook, I think it's been explained very well. The stalks look like celery and have those "strings" like celery and are extremely sour, way past "tart", LOL.

It freezes well, which is a good thing, because it's extremely prolific. You take off the leaves and stalks, discard the leaves which are toxic, cut the stalks into what ever size you wish, and freeze them. Alternatively they can become pie, jam, cake, muffins, BBQ sauce. Notice the theme? It needs sugar, and mixes well with strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, peach, plum, even apples.

A German exchange student tried rhubarb pie and loved it. She said in her home "rhabarber" was cooked and consumed as a vegetable and she hated it. I can see why. I will admit that when I was a kid we'd take a cup of sugar outside and eat the rhubarb stalks. Dunk the stalk in sugar, bite. Dunk the stalk in sugar, bite. Repeat until you are full, get caught by Grandma or run out of sugar. (grin)

I'm surprised that it isn't available frozen everywhere, although "pie plant" is kind of an old fashioned food. It's extremely sturdy, and I've sent boxes overnight to a couple of friends which makes it prohibitively expensive but arrives in usable condition. If it's a bit "floppy", it just gets soaked in a sink full of ice water and gets crunchy again...

Annie

Annie, that is how we ate rhubarb as kids. Makes my mouth pucker just thinking of it.

I have miles of rhubarb and made many dishes this past weekend...savory, not at all sweet like most do. I lost two posts with pics and have lost interest posting all over again...maybe tomorrow.

I use it like lemon/lime and it is free in my yard.

have you ever heard of/tried gooseberry? similar jaw snapping tartness

"...and are extremely sour, way past "tart."

A better description, for sure.

The Amana Colonies in Iowa make Rhubarb wine called "
Piestangle"....interesting but that's the best i can say! And I love rhubarb!

rhubarb is the fruit of the midwest … there is a pie permutation called strawberry-rhubarb pie … but some purists frown on that tasty addition.

Frozen rhubarb is available, but I can't say exactly where. I'm in south central Indiana and bought some a couple of years ago. Right now it is available fresh at Kroger for $3.99 a pound. A pound is quite a bit of rhubarb for me. Have a bunch in the fridge right now that I'm getting ready to transform into delicious pies and preserves.

Madonna

I'm surprised it is not sent South as we get so much produce from California and Florida. Maybe a specialty market or just a brief time in your local market. It does keep very well but not uncovered like most vegetables. I does best bagged. The stalks get limp quickly like celery.

Always surprised to see it so limp even in NY where it grows so well.

Try a small slice fresh. It is like celery being fibrous but more dense. Crunchy and lemon/lime citrus flavor.

Great chopped fine and fresh anywhere you might use a vinaigrette. Pasta salads, tuna/chicken salads. I 'planked' it, sliced the long way and placed it under a spatchcocked chicken last weekend and under a smoked stuffed pork loin.

I roasted/smoked some with tomatillos and mixed hot and sweet peppers for a sauce and a BBQ sauce.

I could write a rhubarb cookbook if I had the recipe/writing skills....

Tart yes, but not unlike, say, a cranberry, that softens quickly once heated, and becomes very thick....a natural thickener.

Annie, we ate rhubarb the same way as kids. We would sneak the sugar bowl outside to the back yard and eat the unwashed stalks dipped in sugar. Looking back, the only reason I can come up with for the 'sneaking' was that it made it more fun. Because no one cared if we had sugar or even thought about it back then.

I'm a purist, no strawberries in my rhubarb. Pie, rhubarb crisp, stewed into sauce. I don't have a plant here since we've moved, did notice fresh in the grocery store yesterday @ $2.99/lb. I didn't buy, if not growing my own I would rather get it at the farmers market.

I need to go on a rhubarb hunt in our grocery stores. I think some kind of rhubarb crisp sounds good. Never liked it as a kid, but love it now even just stewed in a bowl (a good substitute for applesauce).

ETA--I baked this for the first time and it is delightful-- from Sunset Cook Book of Favorite Recipes II

Rhubarb Oat Crumble

1 cup quick or regular rolled oats

1 cup each firmly packed brown sugar and all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 c butter, softened

4 cups diced rhubarb, about 1 1/4 pounds

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

I cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

red food coloring (optional)

In large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. With your fingers, rub in the butter till lumps are no longer distinguishable. Press half the crumb mixture into a 9 inch square pan. Evenly distribute rhubarb over the crumb crust.

In a small saucepan, combine the granulated sugar and corn starch. Add water and cook, stirring over medium heat till thickened. Let cool slightly and add vanilla and red food coloring if desired. Pour over rhubarb. Sprinkle the remaining half of the crumb mixture over the rhubarb. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature with cream, whipped cream or ice cream.

*has visions of a rhubarb truck farm/selling frozen rhubarb*

My grandmother grew rhubarb in northwestern Oklahoma so it can be raised in the sorta' South. As I recall, it was pretty much a spring/ early summer thing and died down when the heat set in. I live in Wisconsin now and rhubarb loves, loves the climate here. As long as I give it some supplemental water in our sandy soil, I can harvest it all summer long.

We ate rhubarb raw dipped in sugar when I was a kid too. I tried it as an adult and could take it but prefer it in a pie (with fresh strawberries) or in jam. My Dad grew it in Mass. and in Central Illinois. I have grown it in California for 40 years. Don't know why it can't be grown in the South.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

My patch of rhubarb. Lizards like to hide in there. Elvira's on the hunt.

caflowerluver, that jam looks amazing...Elvira too! :-)

I LOVE Elvira!! Nice looking rhubarb too, mine isn't the red kind, the stalks are green, so my jam is never quite as pretty as yours is. I can't bring myself to add red food coloring...

morz, I like my rhubarb pie straight too, no strawberries added. Other in the family disagree, but too bad for them if I'm baking the pie!

Sheila, thanks for that recipe. I think I'm going to try to "gluten free" it and see how it goes...

Sleevendog, you're right, we import things from Florida, Texas, California. Michigan is the 2nd largest producer of dried beans and exports them all over the world, including Europe, South America, the Middle East, Asia. We market sour cherries all over the US. I can't imagine that we wouldn't ship rhubarb to the south, but maybe there is no demand, as rhubarb seems kind of "old fashioned".

Annie

I think rhubarb is mostly beloved by those of us raised eating it. So, I think if Southerners weren’t raised on it, there’s likely to be very little demand. At least probably not enough to justify a store stocking it.

I had a gift of rhubarb today....pie here we come!!

A marriage made in heaven is rhubarb and custard. Make a really good thick custard, fold in some whipped cream, then fold in cooked rhubarb. Delicious.

I've done rhubarb in savory stews. Basically, because it is so tart, use the thinner stalks and have other items (whether meat or vegetables) dominate.

I just bought some yesterday at the farmers market, and am planning such a stew later this week. I'll be adding in either a couple of apples or pears to balance it out.

I went to two grocery stores today and finally did find it frozen! Thanks for the suggestion, Chloebud!

There's a great sounding rhubarb oat crumble over on KT... if anyone wants to explore. I plan to make half a recipe this afternoon, as I want the rest of my rhubarb for my stew...

I think half a recipe would work great in a bread pan. Artemis, it is the same recipe I posted above.

cookebook, I'm glad you found rhubarb. So, what are you going to make? Pie? Muffins? Jam? Stewed rhubarb? Crisp, cobbler, crumble?

I hope you love it...

Annie

Great, cookebook! I hope you love it, too! :-)

I didn't actually buy it Annie and Cholebud, but not that I know I can get it I will have to try it! Lots of good suggestions on this thread!

Cookebook, one of my favorite uses for rhubarb is to combine it with apples in pie or crisp. Lindac's rhubarb cake is another favorite. The cake is better the second day--more moist.

I made a Rhubarb Coffee cake on Sunday that was a big hit not just with Moe and Matt, but also my neighbours.

I made some minor adjustments. The recipe called for both strawberries and rhubarb. Since I don't like strawberries anywhere near my rhubarb, I just doubled the rhubarb. I used half white and half brown sugar in the topping instead of just white and I also added a little cinnamon to the mix.

The cake is a Platz, a thinner style Coffee Cake. You can find the recipe here.

Oh my, Ann T. That looks delicious!

That looks and sounds so good, Ann T! I'm with you on including brown sugar and cinnamon in the topping.

Annie, I just ran across a few new recipes for rhubarb candy. I bet similar to your zucchini candy. Martha has one she slivers into thin strips and curls while still soft out of a low oven.

I dehydrated slices last year for my granola. One batch was rock hard but did better second try. And this year I will sugar or maple syrup a little.

I'm getting fineCooking hard copy now. Just skimming the new one. Two rhubarb recipes. A rhubarb fennel apple strudel, and a few sheet pan tarts. A roasted tomatillo/poblano salsa. So similar to the one I just made but I added rhubarb.

I was off magazines for a few years except for the NewYorker and NYTimes weekend, but this one has been a good run so far. Nothing like a rest in the hammock outdoors with a magazine....

The 'rock hard' rhubarb was a good replacement for citrus all winter, after soaking in a bit hot water for a few hours.

I made a batch of ginger, apple, rhubarb, grapefruit juice Sunday. Frozen into ice cubes for my tea.