Dreams of Rhubarb

         

( Photo: www.oasisnewsfeatures.com  )

    Preparedness is as much learning to use what is available to you as anything else. Too many times people look past the many resources they have to which we too easily become accustomed.  On this farm I have multiple types of pears including the Asian variety, which I love. We also have chives, mint,  kiwi, blackberries, strawberries, grapes, blueberries,and  lettuces of many kinds. We also have haskap. I also grow sprouts for sandwiches and salads, on occasion. We are waiting for apples, peaches, plums, and other fruits when the trees mature sufficiently to be able to bring the fruits to maturity.   Just now, all of these trees develop the fruit, but if we leave the fruit on the trees, the weight damages the young trees as the fruit grows and weighs down the trees.  We carefully remove the fruit early for the apples, peaches and plums, and compost the fruit.  It is our hope that next season the root systems and the branches of these trees will be strong enough to deliver some fruit to maturity.   We also have a wonderful herb garden, and we grow seasonally some vegetables each year.   There is one thing though, that I do not have here, and that I miss immensely.

This is what a mature rhubarb plant looks like. (Picture: georgeweigel.net )

               When I was a little girl, my parents bought a large rural home that was built at the time of the Civil War.  It took them almost twenty years to restore it, but the outside was always lovely and grew many things well and easily.  One of the things that was well established when my parents bought the house was a large rhubarb patch in a shady area of the well established fenced vegetable garden.    Initially unfamiliar with preparing rhubarb, my mother stewed it, and served it for breakfast.  I was five at the time, and I wasn't going to be eating any of that tart stuff !  She consulted with some of the rural neighbors and also took a book or two from the library, and slowly but surely developed a repetoire as to what to do with this large and constantly producing source of fresh food.  Eventually, she used it in an amazing rhubarb with strawberry pie.   She also made a rhubarb tart served with Bird's style custard she made herself, consistent with her British upbringing.   She also made an amazing rhubarb crumble.   Our well established rhubarb patch provided rhubarb not only for us for a very long stretch of time during the year, but for our friends and distant neighbors as well.

This is a rhubard custard tart.  (Photo: http://www.dragonsandfairydust.co.uk)

                  I must admit I took rhubarb for granted.  When my husband and I bought our third home with a large garden for growing vegetables, I bought rhubarb and carefully planted the familiar plants as directed.  They died late that July despite the fact that I had planted them in partial shade and watered as directed.   I tried several other times in different homes we've had since, two of them farms, only to have the plants die during the hottest part of the year.  The difference is that the established rhubarb patch of my parent's home was in rural Northwestern New Jersey, and most of my homes, as an adult,  have been in suburban or rural areas of Virginia where for most of the year it is significantly hotter, dryer and more humid..  Many things are much tougher to start here than they were in New Jersey's cooler climate and much richer soil.  It took me time to establish blueberries here, and I eventually established kiwi as well.  Sadly, I have never been able to get rhubarb to establish here, nor do the grocery stores locally sell it.
                 Rhubarb is an herbaceaous perennial which grows from a rhizome.  The leaves are quite nephrotoxic and poisonous. The stalks,  however, are a bit like celery, and this is the part we salvage and use to eat.   The plant is actually considered a vegetable, but in the US in 1947, a court declared it a fruit for regulatory purposes, and so, we will here also. It is quite tart and although it can be sweetened with sugar, stevia and other sweeteners may be used.  The trick is to keep some of the tartness.  Rhubarb grows well in England, in parts of the US, in Turkey, Russia,  China and  Greece. It has become established in Scandinavia, and in parts of Canada.   It is used in Chinese medicine also.
                 If you are in a part of the country or the world in which rhubarb does well, then it is well worth selecting a place in the garden where children and animals will not ingest the leaves, and trying your hand at growing rhubarb. It can be used in a rhubarb cherry crisp and also in a chicken stir fry.  A rhubarb pork stir fry is said to be fantastic.

    

How to freeze rhubarb:



http://www.rhubarb-central.com/freezing-rhubarb.html


Dehydrating Rhubarb:

http://www.rhubarb-central.com/dried-rhubarb.html



Rhubarb recipes for diabetics and dieters:  Sugar free rhubarb recipes

 http://www.rhubarb-central.com/sugar-free-rhubarb-recipes.html


       Rhubarb is a healthy food which is said to naturally lower blood pressure and may have anti-cancer properties.  It is not as extremely easy to grow in US hot climates as some of its press indicates.  However, for 26 calories a full cup, it should certainly be explored.

 It's definitely worth a look:


http://www.rhubarb-central.com/

Rhubarb Nutrition Facts
NUTRITION FACTS
For 1 Cup of Diced, Raw Rhubarb:
Calories ....................26
Dietary Fibre ................2 grams
Protein ......................1 gram
Carbohydrates .................6 grams
Vitamin C ...................10 mg
Vitamin A ..................122 IU
Folic Acid .................8.7 mg
Calcium ....................105 mg
Potassium ..................351 mg
- See more at: http://www.rhubarb-central.com/rhubarb-nutrition.html#sthash.hoOX1bep.dpuf

Rhubarb Nutrition Facts
NUTRITION FACTS
For 1 Cup of Diced, Raw Rhubarb:
Calories ....................26
Dietary Fibre ................2 grams
Protein ......................1 gram
Carbohydrates .................6 grams
Vitamin C ...................10 mg
Vitamin A ..................122 IU
Folic Acid .................8.7 mg
Calcium ....................105 mg
Potassium ..................351 mg
- See more at: http://www.rhubarb-central.com/rhubarb-nutrition.html#sthash.hoOX1bep.dpuf

Rhubarb Nutrition Facts
NUTRITION FACTS
For 1 Cup of Diced, Raw Rhubarb:
Calories ....................26
Dietary Fibre ................2 grams
Protein ......................1 gram
Carbohydrates .................6 grams
Vitamin C ...................10 mg
Vitamin A ..................122 IU
Folic Acid .................8.7 mg
Calcium ....................105 mg
Potassium ..................351 mg
- See more at: http://www.rhubarb-central.com/rhubarb-nutrition.html#sthash.hoOX1bep.dpuf