Best Rhubarb Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the best thing to do with rhubarb? ›

Rhubarb is a truly special ingredient. With its vivid pink colour and distinctively tangy taste, it can be stewed, poached, roasted and puréed in a range of dishes as well as drinks. Use it in a comforting crumble, a classic syllabub, a fruity chutney or a zingy kebab sauce – the possibilities are endless.

Although it can be eaten raw, rhubarb tends to be too tart this way, and it's usually best when cooked with plenty of sugar. It goes well with both ginger and strawberries.

Studies show that rhubarb helps lower your bad cholesterol levels as well as your total cholesterol. Lower cholesterol levels reduce your risk for heart disease and heart attack. The vitamin K in rhubarb may also aid in preventing the calcification of blood vessels.

Method. Put the rhubarb into a saucepan with the orange zest, juice, sugar and 2 tbsp water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 8 mins until the rhubarb is cooked but still holds its shape.

To pick rhubarb, hold the stalk firmly, pull and twist. Do not use a knife to cut the stalks from the plant. The knife can carry diseases from plant to plant, and the remaining stalk can be a point of entry for other pests.

For the most part, fresh rhubarb should be refrigerated. These few steps will help make storing quick, easy, and beneficial. Add unwashed stalks to a Ziplock bag and keep it unopened, or wrap them in plastic wrap and cut a few holes to help them breathe.

Green stems are just as delicious as the red stems we are more familiar with on other varieties of Rhubarb. Many rhubarb varieties never develop red stems at all, but they are no less tasty than the others. It is important to remember that the leaves on all rhubarb plants are poisonous, and should never be consumed.

To prepare: Wash the stems and cut off the leaves and the ends. Cut into 2cm lengths, removing any strings if necessary. Stew or poach in some water and a little sugar. When making a crumble or a pie, the rhubarb does not need to be cooked first.

How do you get the most Flavour out of rhubarb? ›

"You want to peel off the first layer, and then you want to simmer it with some brown sugar and ginger," he explains. "Once you let it simmer, and it's soft, let it sit overnight. Now you have these tender ribbons that you can jar up, or you can put them on anything."

An average serving of rhubarb, about 2/3 cup, contributes to healthy bowel movements due to its high fiber content, but it can also have a purgative or laxative effect in larger quantities.

Rhubarb is a vegetable often thought to be a fruit. There's actually a good reason for this confusion: in 1947 the USDA classified it as a fruit because the tariffs on bringing fruits into the country were lower on fruits than vegetables. In actuality though, rhubarb is a vegetable - a member of the buckwheat family.

It's OK to eat rhubarb raw.

Almost every recipe you see that involves rhubarb calls for cooking it, usually with some sugar, since it's quite tart and acidic.

For the most part, fresh rhubarb should be refrigerated. These few steps will help make storing quick, easy, and beneficial. Add unwashed stalks to a Ziplock bag and keep it unopened, or wrap them in plastic wrap and cut a few holes to help them breathe.

The toxic parts of rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum) are the leaves and the roots, as described by University of Illinois Extension: “One characteristic consistent with all rhubarb is the toxicity of the leaves and roots. The rhubarb leaves contain high amounts of oxalic acid, a toxic and potentially deadly poison.”