Rhubarb!

ocailleagh · Wed May 14, 2008 7:24 pm

I have tons of the stuff, and no idea what to do with it all. Obviously there will be a few pies and crumbles, and maybe some wine if I can find room to store it (I have a few gallons from last year still working...will it never end?). But what else can I do with it? I tend to leave berries I can't use on the bush for the birds, but they don't seem so fond of rhubarb!

hamster · Post: # 103006Post **hamster** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:31 pm

Schnapps!!

600g rhubarb (trimmed weight), 300g sugar, 1l vodka. Leave for about a month, shaking every day.

Absolutely gorgeous.

chadspad · Post: # 103007Post **chadspad** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:32 pm

Serious amounts of recipes on here!
http://www.rhubarbrecipes.co.uk/

ocailleagh · Wed May 14, 2008 7:47 pm

Schnapps! Grand plan! I'm assuming that it will be less cloying and sickly than peach schnapps. The shop bought type anyway.

The recipes on that site, some sound insane! But quite a few of them are very intriguing, I especially like the sound of the cookies and the second soup.

Thanks both!

eccentric_emma · Wed May 14, 2008 7:57 pm

i did pretty much the same recipe for rhubarb schnapps but i added in the zest of half a lemon, some cinnamon and a couple of cloves - shook every day for three weeks then strained. havent tried it yet but it smells great.

ina · Post: # 103112Post **ina** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:40 am

Some recipes I posted three years ago...

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... barb+cakes

ocailleagh · Thu May 15, 2008 11:25 am

Ina, those cake recipes look lovely...I'm beginning to think I should have you living here! I had no idea that Quark was German, I just thought it was a brand name!

ina · Post: # 103198Post **ina** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:19 pm

ocailleagh wrote:Ina, those cake recipes look lovely...I'm beginning to think I should have you living here! I had no idea that Quark was German, I just thought it was a brand name!

Nope - it's part of German basic nutrition!

Honestly - we had it daily at home: most of it for breakfast, on bread or toast, with jam, honey or syrup on top...

Ali B · Post: # 103351Post **Ali B** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:08 pm

Here's a link to our family blog & a recipe for citrussy rhubarb jam. It's delicious & entirely foolproof.

We've also done rhubarb muffins & rhubarb chutney. Here's a recipe for Rhubarb Tansy, which was my absolute favourite when I was a kid (err, still is I think):

450g rhubarb in 2-3cm lengths
100g butter
2 large egg yolks
140ml double cream
50g sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you want it)
2 tbsp lemon juice
caster sugar to taste

Melt butter in pan & add rhubarb - simmer until tender, then remove from heat & allow to cool for a bit.
Beat the egg yolks together, lightly whip the cream then add both to the rhubarb. Stir in the 50g of sugar.

Very gently bring this mixture back up to the boil & simmer gently until it is like a fairly thick custard in consistency. Put it into a serving dish, sprinkle on the caster sugar & lemon juice & chill before serving.

Even my MIL who does NOT like custardy desserts had 2 helpings last week.

Mon May 19, 2008 6:34 pm

Probably preaching to the choir but I presume you know you can make a good aphid spray with the leaves, which I presume you'll have tons of if you've got lots of rhubarb.
Maggie

ina · Post: # 104134Post **ina** » Mon May 19, 2008 6:40 pm

Just remembered - still have a jar of rhubarb and fig jam from last year - that was very nice, too. No idea where the recipe's gone.

ocailleagh · Tue May 20, 2008 4:10 am

Green Aura wrote:Probably preaching to the choir but I presume you know you can make a good aphid spray with the leaves, which I presume you'll have tons of if you've got lots of rhubarb.
Maggie

I don't generally get much of an aphid problem really, not on my plants at least-the greenfly do seem to love me though. Maybe I have chlorophyll instead of blood? The ones I do get in the garden are mostly kept down by the ladybirds. Is it effective (and safe enough to use) against gooseberry sawfly larvae? I can't get rid of them!

VM · Post: # 104639Post VM » Thu May 22, 2008 9:41 am

I just made a lovely rhubarb sorbet - tell me if you want the recipe.

Had it for partner's birthday dinner together with a blackberry ice cream from last year's frozen berries, and a blackcurrant leaf sorbet - very nice, though I say so myself.

And I'd like to know more about the rhubarb leaf aphid spray.

You can use the leaves as a mordant in natural dying as well - though I haven't yet tried this - later this year...

What a useful plant.

ina · Post: # 104648Post **ina** » Thu May 22, 2008 10:38 am

VM wrote: What a useful plant.

I agree! The largest leaves make good umbrellas, if you get caught in a shower in the garden... And you can use them as slug traps!

ocailleagh · Thu May 22, 2008 9:08 pm

They make lovely toad and frog shelters too, I have my rhubarb growing along one side of the pond. Unfortunately, not long after I moved out of there my idiot father stocked it with fish, thereby stopping the frogs and toads breeding grrr...
I'm not a sorbet fan, it makes my teeth feel weird, but I like the idea of using blackcurrant leaf in something, they smell gorgeous!