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The Rhubarb Connection

Rhubarb Marmalade

8 cups rhubarb
1 cup raisins
12 cups sugar
2 lemons
4 oranges

Cut rhubarb and add some sugar. Let set for 1 hour. Add remaining sugar, juice and rind of oranges, juice of lemons and rind of 1 lemon. Cook until it begins to jell. Pour into hot jars.

Rhubarb Spread

4 cups rhubarb, cut finely
2 cups white sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts

Boil rhubarb and sugar until thick (do not add water). Add nuts. Place in sterilized bottles and when cold, seal with paraffin.

Rhubarb Jam

6 cups rhubarb, cut small
1 cup crushed, drained pineapple
2 pkg strawberry Jello powder
6 cups white sugar

Boil sugar and rhubarb together for 15 minutes. Add pineapple and Jello powder. Bring to boil. Put in hot jars. Seal with paraffin wax.

Apple Rhubarb Crisp

2 cups apples, finely sliced
2 cups rhubarb, finely cut
2 eggs, separated
1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix apples and rhubarb in a bowl. Sift sugar, flour and salt together, and sift again into the fruit mixture. Mix all together. Beat egg yolks until lemon colored and stir into floured mixture. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold into the mixture. Place in buttered pan or casserole (9 X 9).

Sift flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Blend in the butter or margarine. Add the walnuts, and mix lightly. Cover the fruit mixture with the topping.

Bake 375 deg F, 30 - 40 minutes or until fruit is tender.

Rhubarb Pudding

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

2 cups raw rhubarb, cut into small pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups hot water
2 Tbsp. butter

Mix first 5 ingredients together. Stir in rhubarb. Place in a buttered 8 to 10 cup casserole dish. Boil brown sugar and water together for a few minutes. Pour over batter mixture; do not stir mixture. Bake at 375 deg F for 40 minutes.

Rhubarb Cake

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups rhubarb in 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

If frozen, thaw rhubarb. Mix white sugar and cinnamon; set aside. Mix flour, soda, salt; set aside. In large bowl of mixer, cream brown sugar and margarine until fluffy. Beat in egg. At low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with milk until well blended. Stir in vanilla and rhubarb. Turn into greased and floured 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mixture. Bake in 350 deg F oven, 40 minutes, or until pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack. Makes 12 servings.

Rhubarb Pie

1 1/2 cups unpeeled rhubarb, cut finely
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
Fine cracker or bread crumbs
1 1/2 Tbsp butter
Pie pastry

Line pie plate with pastry and sprinkle with crumbs. Beat egg. Add sugar and rhubarb. Place mixture in pie plate. Spread crumbs over top of pie mixture. Dot with pieces of butter. Put on top crust and bake in hot oven of 475 deg F, for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 deg F, until baked.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

2 1/2 cups cut rhubarb
2 egg yolks
1 cup white sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. melted butter

Beat egg yolks to a thick froth. Gradually add sugar, flour and butter. Add rhubarb cut in 1/2" pieces. Pour into uncooked pastry shell and bake like a custard pie at 350 deg F. When baked, top with meringue and brown lightly at 400 deg F. If desired, this pie may be baked between two crusts.

Rhubarb Wine

There are two things that you have to know about to make good rhubarb wine: 1) Chop up your rhubarb stalks and freeze them in plastic bags for a few days before you make the wine. I really don't understand why this should make a difference, but it does. If you use fresh rhubarb the wine never comes out as good. 2) You have to have patience. Rhubarb wine can taste uninteresting at eight months and really good at ten months. You have to let it mellow.

THE BASIC RECIPE:

3 pounds rhubarb
3 pounds white sugar
1 tsp. yeast nutrient
1 gallon hot water (doesn't have to be boiling)
2 campden tablets (crushed)
wine yeast

Use frozen cut up rhubarb. Put it in the primary fermentor (a "kitchen-size" clean plastic garbage can works really well) along with the sugar. Cover and let stand for 24 hours. Add the hot water, mix everything together and then strain out the rhubar . Put the liquid back in the primary fermentor and when it is luke-warm add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and leave it to ferment for three or four days. Then syphon the liquid into gallon jugs with fermentation locks. There will be a fair amount f sediment, so when the wine settles a bit (about a month) you will want to rack it. Be sure to top up the bottles. We bottle ours at about 6 months. This last year I made one batch of straight rhubarb and the other batch was mostly rhubarb with about a pound of green grapes crushed and thrown in as well. Both were entirely drinkable, but the one with the grapes added was definitely better.

From: The Rhubarb Compendium

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