Rheally Versatile Rhubarb

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Like Garrison Keillor, I grew up on rhubarb pie in the early summer. (It was Wisconsin, so the rhubarb’s not quite ready til then.) Not strawberry rhubarb—just the rhubarb. We also ate sort of a stewed rhubarb like applesauce after dinner, as a snack, or at breakfast, although we didn’t call it “rhubarb sauce”; it was just “rhubarb.” Tonight I tried it in a bundt cake, and it’s pretty good. The recipe I adapted from Savoring the Seasons in the Northern Heartland published by University of Minnesota Press. Instead of sour cream, I used plain Pequea Valley yogurt. And tonight I picked up my Meadow Run Farm buying club order which included a dozen eggs from their pastured hens.

What’s my point? Don’t get freaked out by rhubarb. If you’re not used to it yet, chop it up and treat it like cranberries: tart, red, and good for cooking and baking. Nutritionally, it’s very high in vitamin K, and high in C, potassium, calcium, and manganese.