| Rhubarb, rhubarb | |
by Judy Sobeloff, from the August 2005 newsletter
“Rhubarb, rhubarb.” Feeling uneasy yet? Maybe it’s because “rhubarb, rhubarb” is what’s purportedly muttered by extras in theatre crowd scenes to denote unrest. Or maybe it’s because rhubarb is yet another commonly consumed, potentially poisonous fruit or vegetable lying in wait, hoping to nail us. And we thought fruits and vegetables were our friends! Rhubarb, rhubarb.
I still remember my first encounter with the stuff, dipping my (innocent, childish) hand into a mysterious bowl of beautiful pink liquid in our family fridge, only to spit it out in horror upon putting my fingers to my mouth, the shock of tasting the beautiful pink liquid an experience ranking up there with waking up to find my first pet fish belly up and learning where babies come from.
A vegetable belonging to the buckwheat family, rhubarb is thought to have originated in Northern China or Russia and was originally used medicinally, primarily to induce vomiting. Yup, vomiting. Rhubarb stalks, which resemble red celery, didn’t catch on as a food until the early 1800s, perhaps because those who ate the leaves and roots “sickened and died, thereby decreasing the rhubarb’s potential for popularity” (www.hungrymonster.com).
The leaves and roots are toxic due to a high concentration of oxalic acid, which, oddly enough, is also found in spinach, from which, to date, there’ve been no reported deaths. Curiouser and curiouser, oxalic acid has been found to be beneficial to the environment, helping to protect the ozone layer (homecooking.about.com).
As if neutralizing chlorofluorocarbons wouldn’t keep rhubarb busy enough, rhubarb also has laxative properties and can create kidney stones. If this doesn’t put you off your feed, the good news is that rhubarb is high in calcium, even more so proportionally than a glass of milk. But, heh heh, the joke is on the consumer once again: it’s calcium oxalate, “which blocks absorption of calcium not only from the ingested rhubarb itself, but also from any other food eaten at the same time” (homecooking.about.com).
In case any thrill-seekers or die-hard rhubarb fans are still reading, I’ll go on. Despite being nicknamed “pie plant,” rhubarb reportedly works well in savory dishes as well as in sweet, though my family was so busy working our way through various rhubarb desserts that I had no opportunity to observe this for myself.
First we stumbled upon a rhubarb custard pie made by Sarah Nelson for a party. David, a fellow guest who said he hardly ever eats desserts “but boy, this is something,” and whose slice was accompanied by “just a little ice cream so as not to dilute the pie,” claimed that there are “only three states where people really know how to make this: Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.” Bingo. Turns out Sarah hails from Iowa, and the recipe comes from her mother, Corinne, though Sarah suspects her mother found it originally in a cookbook.
Sarah remembers “rhubarb growing around the edges of our house and picking it every year and making lots of things with rhubarb.” Though Rhubarb Custard Pie is a tough act to follow, follow it I did when Sarah gave me her recipe for the unevocatively named Rhubarb Dessert, which Sarah says she remembers “eating it by the truckload. It’s even better than the pie.”
I found Rhubarb Dessert rich and sweet, like tart cobbler-esque butterscotch. Fred described it as “extreme comfort food,” particularly enjoying the sourness.
On a roll, we followed up with Raspberry Blackberry Rhubarb Pie (our motto: “Make only recipes which are easy as pie”), which my friend Nancy, who describes herself as neither a fan of rhubarb nor of pie, said was “fantastic.” Impatient for the liquidy filling to thicken, we cooled the pie on a bed of ice.
“Rhubarb you never eat raw,” I instructed my three-and-a-half-year-old as we constructed the final pie. “I had a piece, and it was really tasty,” my husband called from the next room. Remembering having read this prohibition somewhere but not remembering the reasons why, I sampled a piece on the sly and had to admit it was tasty, crisp and tart like a cranberry. Rhubarb, rhubarb, indeed.
Rhubarb Custard Pie (adapted from Corinne Nelson)
3 eggs
2-2/3 Tbsp. milk or cream
2 cups sugar
4 Tbsp. flour
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
4 cups chopped rhubarb
9-inch pie shell plus dough/shell for optional top crust
Optional additional ingredients for streusel topping (see below)
Beat eggs slightly and add milk or cream. Mix together sugar, flour, and nutmeg and stir into wet mixture. Add rhubarb and pour the mixture into a 9-inch unbaked pie shell. Dot with butter. Cover with latticed pie dough or with a streusel topping (see below). Bake 50-60 minutes at 400 F. and enjoy!
For streusel topping: Cut together 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/3 cup softened butter to make sort of a pebbly sandy consistency. Spoon onto top of pie.
Rhubarb Dessert (adapted from Corinne Nelson)
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
5 Tbsp. powdered sugar
Mix the first four ingredients and pat into an 8X8 inch pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350F.
Filling:
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
2 cups chopped rhubarb
Mix dry ingredients. Beat 2 eggs until fluffy and add gradually. Add rhubarb. Pour over crust and bake 40 minutes at 350 F. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Raspberry Blackberry Rhubarb Pie (adapted from rhubarbinfo.com)
3 cups chopped rhubarb (approximately 1 lb.)
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blackberries
1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 pie crusts for 9-inch pie
Prepare bottom pie crust and place in 9-inch pie dish. Combine chopped rhubarb, sugar, and flour in large bowl and mix well. Carefully mix in berries and turn into prepared pie crust. Place top crust over pie. Cut slits in top crust. Cover edges of pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent burning during baking. Bake at 425 F. for about 1 hour, or until filling is hot and bubbling.
Judy Sobeloff is co-ordinating the Moscow Community Creative Writing Workshop this fall.
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