Rhubarb - do you love it or hate it?

Rhubarb - do you love it or hate it?

  • I love it

    Votes: 11 57.9%
  • I hate it

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • Its OK

    Votes: 6 31.6%
  • I've never eaten rhubarb

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19

Morning Glory

Obsessive cook
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Technically, rhubarb is a vegetable but it is generally used as a fruit. In fact, following a 1947 customs court ruling, in the eyes of the US legal system it is defined as fruit. The edible part of rhubarb is the vegetable stalk of a large perennial herb (rheum rhabarbarum). The leaves are poisonous because they have high levels of oxalic acid which can damage kidneys if ingested in high levels. In the UK, 19th century improvements in cultivation techniques and the falling price of sugar resulted in a rhubarb boom between the world wars. This was the heyday of the rhubarb triangle, which still exists today - a concentration of forcing sheds in an area between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell.

Mature plants of at least a couple of years old are 'forced' by being lifted from the soil late in the year and grown on inside warm, dark sheds where they send out bright pink, tender stalks with pale green or yellow leaves. Traditionally the harvest tales place by candlelight, and when it's quiet in the forcing shed it's possible to hear the faint creaking noise made by the rhubarb as it grows.

Of course, you can quite easily grow rhubarb in your garden or in a pot and I know that several of our members have plants. One of the great things about rhubarb is that its available pretty well all year round in the UK, with the forced rhubarb growing from late December to March and field grown from April to September. Traditionally, we tend to think of rhubarb as an ingredient for desserts, notably the inimitable rhubarb crumble, but it is also a great accompaniment to pork, lamb or oily fish, such as mackerel.

Do you like rhubarb? If so, how do you use it?
 
My mom made a sauce out of rhubarb and strawberries that she would serve with banana ice cream and it was delicious. I have to admit I never had rhubarb since my childhood.
 
I will wait to see what you do - I'm very interested in using rhubarb in savoury dishes.





How widely available is it in the Netherlands & USA?
We grew it when I was a kid, and it pops up in Kroger every so often, when I notice it. It's not something that's considered all that unusual, by any means.

I don't get the feeling that it's a very..."fashionable" ingredient, though. I never see it on menus, though if I did, it probably wouldn't register, because I'd get as far as "rhu-" and I'd move on to the next thing. :)
 
Love rhubarb. Crumble, jam (with or without ginger), and tea. Rhubarb fool is delicious

I've only seen savoury rhubarb as an accompaniment to mackerel (instead of gooseberry). I'm interested to see what you do.
 
We grew up with it, mum made rhubarb n custard for dessert. I love it, my wife doesn't. My kids havnt tried it.
I'm not making it for just myself. My friend grows it so I can get it. But can't be arsed.

Russ
 
i don't shop for myself right now, but when I did the produce department was my favorite haunt. I have seen Rhubarb maybe twice in all the time I've lived here. Strawberry Rhubarb pie is delicious. That is all I know about it.
 
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