Living With Gramps - Cooking Rhubarb

One of the things I always liked most about visiting my grandparents was the rhubarb. Stores rarely carry it, many people have never heard of it, and many of those that have heard of it wish they hadn’t, but rhubarb is my favorite vegetable, better than carrots or Swiss chard. I am told the broad, dark, crumpled leaves are poisonous, but the stems are fine. They start out reddish and green as they thicken. They have a texture much like celery, and are every bit as juicy and sour as lemons. To prepare them, we cut them into short segments, rinse them, and boil them with sugar until they start to fall apart. A good rule of thumb is to use 1/3 cup sugar and ¼ cup water for every 2 cups of rhubarb stems, cooking on low for ten minutes, stirring often. Then we ate it like applesauce – hot or cold – or poured over ice cream. It can be made into pie filling or preserves.

My grandfather told me rhubarb requires a lot of fertilizer, so they were never able to maintain a large crop, but a small amount would spring up naturally from the compost heap every year, which was enough for them. Even when all the garden vegetables had died for lack of care, the rhubarb kept springing up.

My father thinks we might one day set up a rhubarb farm and sell the sauce online. Rhubarb products do seem to be underrepresented in the market. We might be able to fill that gap. I can just imagine the variety of jelly combinations we could make: strawberry-rhubarb, kiwi-rhubarb, apple-rhubarb, grape-rhubarb, blueberry-rhubarb, and lime-rhubarb. What about rhubarb lemonade and rhubarb ice cream? What about rhubarb fruitcakes? What about rhubarb candy? What about rhubarb soda? What about rhubarb wine? What about rhubarb stir fry? What about rhubarb salsa? Imagine combining my favorite vegetables with my favorite fruits to make rhubarb-cilantro-ginger-lime-raspberry-jalapeno salsa! The possibilities are endless!