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SO RHUBARB IS ON THE MENU THIS WEEK….ANOTHER PRAIRIE PLANT.

Yes, I know I’m always coming in to talk about something else springing up in the back forty – but this week I thought I’d talk about that prairie plant that even the brownest thumb can’t kill in the garden. Rhubarb.

Rhubarb is one of those prairie perennials that grows like a weed and really gets very little respect. But rhubarb seems to be shaking off its pedestrian past and is popping up on fine dining menus.

IS THAT WHY WE TAKE RHUBARB FOR GRANTED – IT’S JUST ALWAYS THERE?

I think so. I’ve always had a plant or two in the garden, and frankly, I often ignore it until it sends up its spectacular flower stalks in June or July and overtakes the corner of the garden with those gigantic leaves.

It’s too bad those leaves aren’t edible – they’re quite toxic actually – but when you look at the size that a rhubarb plant achieves in our short growing season, you must admit that it’s one of the most adaptable plants we have on the prairies.

And it is a Canadian phenomenon – or at least a plant that you’ll only find in the colder climates of the world. It’s popular in Britain and Scandinavian countries, too. But they say Canadian rhubarb has the best flavour – likely because the plant likes our long, cool spring season.

We do tend to take rhubarb for granted, though. It’s a bit like zucchini, so prolific that when you grow it, it seems like you can’t get rid of it.

But in hotter places – like much of the southern US – they can’t really grow rhubarb so it’s considered rather exotic, and they’re not quite as blasé about the tart pink stalks that are so prolific here in spring.

In fact, rhubarb is becoming to trendy among chefs these days, that it’s becoming the new hot flavour, some say, the new pomegranate.

WHAT IS RHUBARB – A FRUIT OR A VEGETABLE?

As you might have guessed, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. Because it’s so tart – and we need to sweeten it to enjoy it – it’s treated like a fruit in recipes for pies and drinks and sauces, but technically, it’s a vegetable, a member of the buckwheat family, a relative of sorrel, which, if you have it in the garden, is also green and growing like mad right now.

Like sorrel, rhubarb is a perennial, so comes back year after year.

WHERE DOES IT GROW?

Well, as most Canadians know, it grows in the back corner of your garden.

But rhubarb actually originates in northern China and Tibet where it grows wild. It’s been cultivated in Asia for its medicinal properties as far back as 2,700 BC.

It was actually Marco Polo who likely first brought rhubarb from China to Italy, where it was first planted in about 1630. Like the Chinese, Europeans used rhubarb in medicines. But by 1778, when sugar started to become widely available, rhubarb morphed from the medicine cabinet to the table, where its earliest recorded use was as a filling for pies and tarts. It’s no wonder we still know it as the “pie plant.”

Rhubarb came across the pond to North America from Britain with the earliest settlers, and obviously fared well in our cold Canadian climate.  It’s a pretty adaptable plant and grows in temperate zones around the globe.

It’s a plant that does well in sun or part shade, and is found in gardens from the Maritimes to British Columbia and all points in between.

ARE THERE DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF RHUBARB?

There are actually more than a dozen rhubarb species, from ornamental rhubarb, to European wild rhubarb, Himilayan wild rhubarb and Chinese rhubarb, plus a bunch of other plants that look like rhubarb but aren’t - like the mammoth Giant Rhubarb which has leaves that can be nine feet across.

That’s strictly an ornamental plant. But even garden rhubarb, with its red stems, big leaves and the tall flowering stems it sends up in mid summer, can be quite an interesting plant in the garden, even if you don’t eat it.

Among the edible species, known simply as garden rhubarb, there are many different varieties. If you’re buying a rhubarb plant for your garden, make sure you choose a red variety of rhubarb.

Look for Canada Red, Cherry Red, Valentine or MacDonald Crimson.

Cut into a stem and check to see if it’s red or pink all the way through. There are some green varieties, like Victoria, which may look a little pink on the outer stem but are green in the centre. It tastes the same, but the red rhubarb is much prettier for your pies, jams and muffins.

IS IT GOOD FOR YOU?

Well, yes and no. It’s a plant food – no fat, low in calories and with a moderate amount of vitamin C (about 10 mg per cup). It has some fibre but not as much as you might think – about 2 grams per cup. And it also has a fair bit of calcium, although the oxalic acid in the rhubarb makes the calcium hard for the body to absorb.

And even though rhubarb is low in calories, it’s so tart that, unless you’re using it in savoury dishes, you have to add quite a bit of sugar to it to sweeten it, so that adds to the calorie count.

Rhubarb is still important in Chinese medicine, though – the dried rhizome and roots are a powerful laxative. You even see rhubarb used in some weight loss products.

Just don’t eat the leaves – they are poisonous, but you’d have to eat quite a few to get a lethal dose of the oxalic acid that these extremely sour leaves contain.

CAN IT BE HARVESTED ALL SUMMER?

The rhubarb will grow all summer but has the best flavour in the spring. It’s growing now, and you can harvest for about 8 weeks. Later in the season, the stalks get coarse and stringy.

Just pull the stalks out from the plant, then trim off and discard the leaves and the thick bases, and use the red stems. Never harvest more than about 1/3 of the stalks and your plant will remain healthy and come back next spring.

ISN’T PIE ABOUT THE ONLY THING THAT’S GOOD WITH RHUBARB?

Well, it is sometimes called the “pie plant” because anyone who lives here knows that rhubarb pie is a very special prairie delicacy.

Some cooks combine rhubarb and strawberries in pies and jams, which is also very delicious and guarantees good colour.

My mom always just cooked the chopped rhubarb with sugar and we’d have bowls of stewed rhubarb for dessert. And it was one thing that we could always eat from the garden – with a bowl of sugar for dipping, a stalk of fresh rhubarb made a great, kid-friendly snack.

And of course rhubarb is great in muffins and cakes and crumbles, crisps and cobblers.

But rhubarb is so pleasantly tart, that it’s nice for relishes and chutneys, or sweet and sour sauces to match with rich meats like pork or duck.

And for a recent 100-mile dinner I hosted, my neighbor Barb Donaldson created amazing rhubarb martinis, using local vodka and a delicious rhubarb syrup she created by simply cooking rhubarb with sugar and water and pressing it through a sieve.

So rhubarb is very versatile, going from savoury sauces to sweet desserts and even cocktails.

AND CHEFS ARE USING RHUBARB IN RESTAURANTS?

Yes, I’ve recently come across rhubarb in some wonderfully-contemporary dishes in top restaurants.

Daniel Buss, the creative chef at the Banffshire Club at the Banff Springs Hotel has a couple of dishes on his menu that use rhubarb. He serves his seared foie gras with a rhubarb and ice wine terrine, and has a Rhubarb Tasting on the dessert menu, three little rhubarb desserts including a rhubarb streusel cake, rhubarb mousse with champagne gelee and white chocolate, and rhubarb crème fraiche ice cream.

I’ve come across some other savoury dishes with rhubarb on menus –rhubarb braised in a reduction of port, sherry vinegar and peppercorns to serve over grilled halibut, or rhubarb and beet compote served alongside duck breast.  I was also recently served a lovely dessert of large chunks of vanilla-poached rhubarb, topped with fennel ice cream and crumbled crisp meringues at a spring dinner on Vancouver Island.

So rhubarb is definitely going upscale.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE WAY TO ENJOY RHUBARB?

Well, I really do think that a homemade rhubarb pie is one of the best pies you can have – it has that wonderful balance of sweetness and acidity, that works so well in a fruit pie.

But a simple bowl of stewed rhubarb, with a dollop of whipped cream or yogurt, makes a delicious dessert. It can even make a good breakfast – try layering stewed rhubarb with plain yogurt and granola in breakfast parfaits. They make a beautiful brunch starter.

IS RHUBARB DIFFICULT TO COOK?

Cooking rhubarb is really simple, just wash it and chop, then cook it in a non-reactive stainless steel or enamel pan with a bit of water and sugar to taste. Cook it just until just tender, or keep cooking until the mixture breaks down and thickens into a sauce. Don’t use reactive pans – like copper or aluminum, the acid in the rhubarb will react with the metal and you’ll have a very unattractive metallic sauce.

I’ve been experimenting this week with cooking rhubarb. One recipe I found starts by caramelizing, or melting the sugar until it’s golden, then adding the chopped rhubarb and cooking it quickly.

While it’s a little more work to caramelize the sugar, I think this adds another layer of flavour to rhubarb sauce, and does keep the fruit a little more intact. I came across another recipe which recommends cutting the rhubarb into 2-inch lengths, then sautéing it quickly in about ¼ cup of butter with ½ cup of sugar.

Or you can bake it – just put the rhubarb in a baking dish, sprinkle with a few tablespoons of water and brown sugar or vanilla sugar, and bake at 350-375F for about 20 or 30 minutes. You should have a nice syrup and the rhubarb will keep its shape.

The idea is to cook the rhubarb for only about 5 minutes, until tender but not breaking down.

On the other hand, that’s one of the good things about rhubarb – it tends to break down into a pulpy mass, which helps to thicken the juicy sauce.

A basic rhubarb sauce or puree – that you can spoon over cake or waffles or ice cream – is really simple – about six cups of chopped rhubarb simmered with 1/2 cup of water and a cup of sugar. If you like you can add some finely grated orange or lemon rind, or a bit of grated ginger, and a drop of vanilla. Add strawberries to the sauce for extra colour and flavour. Just boil it all together for about 5-10 minutes, then cool and refrigerate. And serve it warm or cold. You can leave the sauce chunky or puree it.

Or if you want to use less sugar to sweeten your stewed rhubarb, try mixing it with apple sauce.

RECIPES THIS WEEK?

Yes, I’ve brought along a couple of recipes – one for the wonderful rhubarb juice that you can serve on ice, like lemonade, on a hot summer day, or shake up like we did with vodka in rhubarb martinis. A truly unique prairie cocktail!

And Daniel Buss shared a recipe for an elegant rhubarb custard tart, something he picked up in London this month while working for two weeks with the famous Michelin star chef Michel Roux. It’s a simple dessert, something they’re now serving on a special menu at the Banffshire Club.

So don’t ignore that rhubarb in the back of your garden this spring. Be creative and find some sweet and savoury new ways to enjoy this hardy prairie plant. It’s the hot new flavor for spring.

click here for rhubarb recipes...

©Cinda Chavich 2007

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