Tuesday, May 26, 2009

rhu⋅barb: Any of several plants of the genus Rheum,R. rhabarbarum, having long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible when sweetened and cooked.

Rhubarb is the fruit of the garden. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it.
Ther
e are desserts and jams. There's rhubarb torte, rhubarb cheesecake, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb bread, rhubarb muffins. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's berry rhubarb pie, lemon rhubarb bars, rhubarb soup, rhubarb salad, rhubarb chutney, rhubarb compote, rhubarb daiquiri. (Does this remind you of Bubba's shrimp mantra from Forest Gump?)

Rhubarb is a faithful and plentiful plant - it will sprout back each spring, spread and produce more rhubarb than you can use. In the spring, when the flower heads appear in the plant, snap them off to keep the rhubarb from taking over your garden. Rhubarb is a vegetable but treated more like a fruit. The stalks are tart. Do not eat the leaves as they contain a high level of toxin.

This weekend I made rhubarb muffins, rhubarb crisp and a pie.
Here is the recipe for the muffins:
Cream together 2 cups light-brown sugar and 1 stick unsalted butter. Beat in 2 eggs; add 1 1/2 cups low-fat milk and stir to combine. Add in 4 cups whole wheat flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt; beat until smooth. Fold in 3-4 cups rhubarb, ends trimmed and cut into 1/2" cubes. Batter will be thick.
Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray or use paper cups. Spoon mixture evenly among cups. Sprinkle each muffin with course baking sugar. Makes 2 dozen. Bake about 25 minutes in a 375 degree oven or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, turn muffins onto a wire rack, cool completely.
"That's all I have to say about that."

1 comment:

  1. Rhubarb daiquiri? I could only imagine how much sugar it would require. Thanks for the eye opening ideas Karla!

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