33 Rhubarb Recipes You've Been Waiting For All Year (2024)

FAQs

Does forced rhubarb need sugar? ›

For the gardener these stretched stems have far less of the bitterness associated with traditional, non-forced rhubarb. The pale stems need less sugar to balance their tartness, while the taste is all together more delicate. Combined with their tender texture, it makes forced rhubarb a king among early crops.

Stew or poach (8-10 mins) or roast (15 mins for forced, 20 for maincrop) rhubarb. Use it to make crumbles, pies or jam. Roast and purée to make rhubarb fool. Rhubarb can also be added to savoury dishes, as its tartness can stand up to fatty meats like pork and duck well.

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.

Incorporating coffee grounds into the soil around rhubarb plants can improve soil structure, promote microbial activity, and enhance overall plant health. Also, coffee grounds can help deter certain pests, such as slugs and snails, which may damage rhubarb foliage.

Rhubarb is high in calcium oxalate. While the substance is mainly in the leaves, it's also found in the stalks. Too much calcium oxalate in your diet may lead to hyperoxaluria, which is the buildup of oxalate crystals in different organs.

The tannins in rhubarb stalks have been found to improve digestion and gut health. Rhubarb is also rich in fiber to help prevent constipation. If you could use a little help in that department, there are more options than your plain old cup of tea or coffee; here's a list of food that makes you poop.

Sennoside A and other dianthrone derivatives are reported to be the active ingredients causing rhubarb's laxative effect (6). They are metabolized by β-glucosidase of enterobacterial origin and are converted into rhein anthrone, which produces the purgative activity.

Since it may be high in oxalate, you should avoid eating too much of it and try to select stalks from low-oxalate varieties. If you are prone to kidney stones, it might be best to avoid rhubarb altogether. On the bright side, rhubarb is a good source of antioxidants, vitamin K, and fiber.

However, you don't necessarily have to cook with rhubarb with a heap of sugar in order for it to taste good. Because rhubarb is mainly used for desserts it's often mistaken to be a fruit. However, it is in fact a perennial vegetable which is quite easy to grow.

This is not the time to go sugar-free. Not only does rhubarb need sweetness to temper its tart flavor, the sugar helps break down the fibrous, stringy stalks. A good starting point is to use a scant 1 cup granulated sugar for 4 cups of chopped rhubarb.

How to can rhubarb without sugar? ›

Canning Rhubarb sugar-free.

Put the rhubarb to be canned in a bag or container and put in the freezer. Let freeze for 6 to 8 hours, or, overnight. Put the rhubarb in a microwave-safe jug or bowl, and zap in microwave just enough to mostly thaw it -- don't cook. About 3 to 4 minutes per batch.

Consumed raw, rhubarb has an intensely tart flavor that's not generally liked. But toss it with sugar and bake it into cake, pie, shortbread or jam, and rhubarb's bitterness fades and becomes delicious.