In the Kitchen: Rhubarb Recipes for You.

As I said. Yesterday was rhubarb day. We ate it from morning 'til night and barely made a dent. Seriously. 33 pounds is a lot of rhubarb. Whew!

I appreciate all of your wonderful suggestions for rhubarb recipes – some basic, some super fancy. I'll be trying a few in the coming days. For you who don't live in the land of rhubarb, it tastes like… like what? Um, like lemon soaked celery? No. Like juicy semi-soft sour apples? No. Rhubarb tastes like spring. And like sour. Yes. It tastes like sour. That's the best I can do. As for recipes, I can be more precise on those. I'm still up to my ears in simmering pots, but here's what I've made since we last chatted.

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Rhubarb-Ginger Syrup: As I shared with you before, we drink a fair amount of fizzy water around here. We normally go sans-sugar and add freshly juiced ginger and a dash of stevia for fresh ginger ale, or stevia and vanilla for homeamde vanilla cream. Last night I made a divine batch of rhubarb-ginger honey syrup. My jumping off point was this recipe, thought I strayed quite a bit.

Ingredients:

  • 5 C sliced rhubarb
  • 3/4 C honey
  • 2" chunk of ginger
  • 1 C water

My favorite way to encorporate ginger into a recipe where you will remove it later is to smash it. First cut it in half the long way. Then turn cut side down and pound with the butt-end of your biggest kitchen knife. You'll be smashing it with the handle and the knife will be pointing dangerously up towards your face. I hope this makes sense. If not (or if it does and you think you'll poke your eye out) grab a hammer instead and go to town.

Combine honey and rhubarb. Stir. (Awkward but workable.) Sit for 20 minutes or until the water begins to release. Add water and ginger and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a mesh strainer. If you pick out the ginger you can eat the left overs as a sauce or add them to your yogurt in the morning.

Truth: I put some in white wine last night. Yum. I also put some in my fizzy water, but the wine in particular was really good.

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Rhubarb Crisp: My crisp was not so crisp. It was sloppy. But yummy just the same. I will spare you the recipe until further refinement. I'm thinking egg yolks and pre-honeying the rhubarb and then draining off the juice before baking.

Rhubarb Sauce: Think applesauce but wicked sour. I made a few quarts and froze them for future enjoyment. Slice rhubarb, mix in sweetener of your choice (I go for 6 or more parts rhubarb to 1 part honey). Sit for 20 minutes, then cook until the rhubarb breaks down. If you want to can for the pantry, follow the instructions here including their sweetening recommendations. As I misplaced the top of my canner (insert cursing here), I decided to freeze mine. 

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Rhubarb GAPS Muffins: These are our breakfast today. I could eat these every morning. We have these with 24 hour cultured (for GAPS reasons) homemade yogurt.

Ingredients:

  • 2 C soaked almonds
  • 1/2 C cashews
  • 1/2 C cocount flakes (unsweetenend of course)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 ripe banana
  • 2 tsp minced, peeled ginger
  • 1/4 C honey
  • 1/4 C coconut oil
  • 1 c sliced rhubarb

Preheat oven to 335 F.

Grind nuts and coconut into a coarse flour using your blender, food processor, or juicer.

Combine all other ingredients except rhubarb in blender. Blend until smooth.

Combine wet ingredients with dry and stir in rhubarb slices.

Oil muffin pan with coconut oil, then fill 3/4 full with batter.

Bake until golden brown and springy when touched in the center. (About 30 minutes, maybe more if your rhubarb is super juicy.)

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Rhubarb Ketchup (or Rhubarb Catsup):  I was the sketchiest on this of all the recipes we tried. It made a great deal of sense to me, but wonky recipes often do until I taste them when they're done and then I realize I've spent four hours making food for my compost. But this recipe. This recipe is YUM.

Sage just discovered that he can't eat nightshades. (This is one of the bonuses of the GAPS diet. You get to the core of what is really bothering you by peeling away the major irritant like sugar, grains, and other complex carbs. I had planned on making homemade ketchup but now we can't. But rhubarb ketchup. Hmm. I thought that rhubarb ketchup might just work.

And does it ever. It is so good. I jarred it up last night and couldn't stop licking my fingers. I mean really delicious. Now I'm not sure that anyone with a bottle of Annie's (heck, or Heinz) in their fridge would call this ketchup, but it will likely be our standard yummy sauce to eat with anything savory. It is really delicious. (Have I made my point?) I found the base recipe here, and I adapted it a bit for my needs/wants.

Ingredients:

  • 6 C Rhubarb, sliced
  • 1 1/2 C Honey
  • 3/4 C vinegar
  • 1 1/2 C chopped onions
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • a few big grinds of black pepper

Combine honey and rhubarb and let sit until juices have begun to release. Add other ingredients and cook in a wide saucepan until the rhubarb has broken down and the sauce begins to thicken. I cooked a double batch for more than 1 1/2 hours on low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and cool somewhat. Puree in batches when cool enough to handle. Jar and freeze. I don't know how long it will keep, but I expect for a good long while in the fridge. (P.S. did you notice that one jar is red and the others are not? My rhubarb is an old-fashioned green type, so the finished goods lack that rhubarb pink sparkle. I added a few drops of this red beet food coloring thought next time if I am married to a pink sauce I'll just toss some shredded beets into the pot.)

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Sliced, frozen Rhubarb for Winter: It doesn't get more basic. Slice. Bag. Label. Freeze. I packed mine in approximately 4 C measures and figured on one to two per month for nine months. Whoa.

I hope that gives you plenty of inspiration for your harvest (or for the rhubarb you pick up at the market). Sending sweet/tart blessing your way this morning.

Love,
Rachel

30 thoughts on “In the Kitchen: Rhubarb Recipes for You.”

  2. anna says:
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    The muffins look delicious! I will def make some this weekend! It might be random: But would you mind sharing what kind of muffin pan you are using? I have been looking for ages for a good replacement for the non-stick kind (we don’t like using it around here…) Thanks 🙂

  3. Rachel Wolf says:
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    Hi Anna,
    Over the past two years I have slowly upgraded all of my aluminum kitchen ware to stainless or stoneware. The muffin and breadpans I use were all scavenged second hand (the muffin pan I found on craigslist) and are made in the US. I think they are sold by Pampered Chef.  I absolutely love them! I also have stainless cookie sheets from my local food coop.

    Blessings,
    Rachel

  9. Dayle says:
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    Oh thank you for all the recipes! We are into our second year of GAPS and it’s so exciting not to have to alter a recipe and hope someone will eat it. I haven’t looked at our rhubarb in a while hopefully it’s up to the task. Thanks again!

  10. kendra says:
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    wow. what a score! and a bucketload of recipes!

    so happy to hear you are all still feeling well on gaps – i bet the nightshades thing is huge!

  11. Amy says:
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    Hi Rachel
    Long time reader, first time commenter 🙂 Thanks for all the rhubarb recipes, they are perfectly timed as I need to severely hack back my rhubarb plant before winter really sets in here. And now I have a huge range of ideas of what to do with it all!
    – Amy

  12. Rachel Wolf says:
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    Dayle,
    That was our last hurrah before the intro diet. Weve been on GAPS since January and start the intro today. Hoping for smooth sailing! Its always encouraging to see others so far in and doing great.

    Peace,
    Rachel

  15. Emma says:
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    Those muffins look AMAZING. And the catsup is curious, as in i would love a taste before devoting a whole evening or afternoon. I could see it being tasty with brats or lamb chops or something.

  17. Cheryl says:
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    There is about 10 lbs on my kitchen table as I type this and I am avoiding processing it so hat’s off to you for taking on 33! Muffins are on the breakfast menu for tomorrow morning 🙂 I think the syrup and ketchup sound fun too. Thanks for playing test kitchen you always seem to be one step ahead – thanks for that!

    btw – mine is the green kind too from my mom’s and I would probably be staring at 30+ pounds if the kids had let me harvest it but now that I’m home part of me is glad it’s only 10.

  18. Rachel Wolf says:
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    Cheryl,
    Full disclosure: I didnt process the last 2 lbs. I keep moving them from place to place, wondering what to do with them… Hope you made something yummy!
    ~ Rachel

  19. Cheryl says:
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    Lol, I powered through and with I had just a few pounds more in the end 🙂 I did make the syrup, ketchup and a different muffin. Two thumbs up all around! I added garlic and dry mustard (because it was the only difference between my go to tomato ketchup) to a small jar of the ketchup and I think I will add it to the whole batch next time around. Also made sorbet but haven’t tried it yet – basically make the syrup but puree the whole mess and then toss it in an ice cream maker. Oh almost forgot the rhubarb version of lemon curd bars, almond shortbread crust but I used some cane sugar in the curd. Mmmmm. . . rhubarb coma

  20. SarahAnn says:
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    I am making the Catsup right now. Smells yummy! Thanks for the alterantive to tomatoes. I used garlic instead of onions and added ground mustard. What is the GAP diet?

  21. krissie says:
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    its winter here in australia, and its also rhubarb time! So inspired was your post that I went out today and bought some wonderful rubarb on special and froze it for crumbles later on. I didnt know that it froze so well. Thanks!

  25. susan says:
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    Quick question on the muffin recipe… are the almonds soaked and then dehydrated before grinding up, or are they just soaked and still damp?

  27. Krissie says:
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    Hi _ I’ve come back to tell you that I did get rhubarb and froze it and then cooked an apple and rhubarb crumble with it on the weeknd and it was yummy! thanks so much for the rubarb info here!

  29. Jenny Miller says:
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    Thay all sound yummy. Now I am really bummed our rhubarb didn’t do well this year! oh well, to the market I go… Thanks for sharing the goodness with us, Rachel.

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