Finally...Rhubarb!!!



I picked my first bunch of rhubarb yesterday.  Oh, the joys of the first harvest and the hope that it gives of more to come.  I have to admit I am in love with rhubarb, not just for culinary purposes, but I am in love with the plant itself.  How can you not love a plant that is as old as dirt itself, that has leaves wider than my whole body, and glorious thick stained red stalks shooting up from the ground?  I love this plant!  It is the first to poke through the ground in the spring; it gives me hope that winter WILL (one day) end!!!  I needed rhubarb this Spring; Winter is still threatening, snowing in the canyons and higher elevations.  I kind of stick out my tongue at Old Man Winter as I slice those thick tangy stalks off the plant!


Rhubarb is a very ancient member of the buckwheat family and is a perennial, which means plant it once and it comes back year after year.  It has been documented in ancient China for medicinal uses as far back as 2700 BC.  It was used to treat fevers, plague, and other various illnesses.  It arrived in America somewhere between 1790-1800.  It is great for weight loss and packed with Vitamin C, great for immunity, and Vitamin K, which you need for blood clotting.  The only down side to the plant is that the leaves contain high levels of oxalic acid which can stop your breathing if eaten in quantity.  (Quite the downside!!!)  I have taught my kids to not touch the leaves, and as soon as I harvest, I cut the leaves from the stalks and throw them away.  Problem solved!

This is the party animal of the sweet and sour "rock your taste buds" world!!!  When paired with something just a little bit sweet, the flavors seem to explode!  Rhubarb is delicious baked in crisps, pies, crumbles, paired with sweeter fruits in jams and jellies, and makes great compotes.  I am freezing some to make strawberry rhubarb jam later in the season, as strawberries are not on yet.  Today, I made a compote with it.  It is so simple and easy to make, it takes about 20 minutes and you are left with something super tasty to top ice cream or yogurt...or whatever else you come up with.  ENJOY!!!


Rhubarb-Vanilla-Orange Compote
Backyard Farmgals


1 lb. Rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean

In a large pan, combine rhubarb, orange juice and zest, sugar, and whole vanilla bean.  Turn heat to medium-low.  Allow the compote to cook until just tender, stirring occasionally.  Remove vanilla bean, split lengthwise, scrape the seeds and add to the compote, throw away pod.

Allow to cool (or if you are impatient, serve it warm over ice cream...YUM) and serve with yogurt and granola, ice cream, or whatever your heart desires.  Sit back and enjoy spring!!!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Raspberry Cream Crumble Pie...

Image
Raspberries, creamy filling, crumble topping, and delicate pie crust.  Can you handle this?  Wow!  This is one of those fantastic recipes that I will make each year during the height of raspberry season, yep, it's that good.  I am completely in love! I have to say that the raspberries are the most important piece of this puzzle, it requires very fresh, ripe, and sweet raspberries.  A farmer friend of mine was able to get some glorious little jewels from a farmer friend of his in Oregon yesterday.  These berries are divine, ripened in the sun and carefully picked.  I know that they are not local, but really, they are from a friend of a friend and a small sustainable organic berry farm.  It doesn't get much better than that!  Make sure you get berries grown on a farm that were picked a day or two ago at their peak.  You will have an amazing tasting pie if you do! I switched the original recipe just a bit.  The crust was made with shortening and egg; I am not a fan
Read more

Keeping Bees Through the Winter...

Image
With all of this snow and cold temperatures I have been concerned about our bees.  This is our third year keeping bees, and we have not been successful through the winter.  Our first year, we got a swarm very late in the season, and they were not well established when winter hit.  The second year, the hive was blown over in a horrible wind storm with 103 mile-per-hour winds. This year, so far, so good.  We knocked on the side of the hive this morning and the bees buzzed back.  I am so hopeful. I wanted to share what we did to improve the chances of survival for our hive.  People say that you don't need to do anything for them in the winter, but with the luck we have had, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry.  We put three bales of straw around the hive with a gap between the bales and the hive to promote air flow.  We get so much snow at the farm (we usually have at least 3-feet before the winter is over), we thought it would be better to create some kind of roof
Read more

Chicken Tractor...

Image
How many of you have heard about a chicken tractor?  If you are not in the know, it is a marvelous idea: a mobile home for chickens that you can move around a yard (large or small), giving your chickens opportunity to range without wandering far off.    We have seventy chickens at the farm.  With so many girls, we occasionally get an injured or picked on bird.  These girls need a sanctuary away from the pecking order that can become vicious and eventually deadly for a chicken that isn't quite normal.  These girls that need a little extra TLC end up in my backyard.  If they can rehabilitate they are eventually moved back to the farm.  We have a few that can't go back, and they become permanent residents.  We have a blind chicken named Helen and a chick with hip dysplasia named Dot.  These two girls will stay here forever.  I have a small yard, 0.25-acre, and these rehab girls make a marvelous mess of my little plot.  We also have a border collie that loves to herd the girls
Read more