A Complete to Rhubarb. Recipes, Cooking Tips, and Health Benefits
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Hey Rhubarb! This post is full of all the rhubarb intel you need including; when to buy rhubarb, how to store rhubarb, how to cook rhubarb, and the health benefits of eating rhubarb. Plus, five delicious and healthy rhubarb recipes!
You may have seen these glorious ruby and green stalks at your local farmers market recently, I snapped this shot just last week at the Union Square GreenMarket in NYC.
Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, although it is most frequently referred to as a fruit. It grows year-round in green houses but field rhubarb is one of the first vegetables/fruits of spring and grows through summer.
You will find a variance in color, some stalks more green, some more red, some down right pretty in pink. The red stalks tend to be sweeter.
How to Buy and Store Rhubarb
When purchasing rhubarb look for firm bright stalks, not limp or sad. Discard the leaves as they contain high levels of oxalic acid, and it’s that ruby stalk you are after.
When you get your rhubarb home store it in a produce bag in the fridge, it will keep for up to a week. Alternatively, you can dice it, place in a glass storage container and freeze it for later use.
Power in the Plant! Health Benefits of Rhubarb
Rhubarb has been used medicinally for centuries as a digestive tonic, typically it is the older rhubarb root that is used in pills and as a curative.
For the more quotidian benefits of eating rhubarb, it has as much calcium as a glass of milk and rivals dark leafy greens for the concentration of vitamin K.
How to Cook Rhubarb. PLUS Radical Rhubarb Recipes (and easy ones too)
As for taste, rhubarb is tart. Very tart. Think almost tart like a cranberry but the texture (raw) of celery.
Typically rhubarb is paired with sweeter fruits and a bucket load of sugar to tame the tart. The most common pairing is strawberry rhubarb pie. Strawberries help to balance out the tart rhubarb flavor and provide texture as rhubarb also gets quite soft once baked.
I, however, really love to play with rhubarb in savory dishes. I actually love the tart citrus bite of this spring beauty paired with salty cheese and crunchy pine nuts.
Honey Roasted Rhubarb Salad with Fennel and Mint
Ingredients
- 2 stalks of rhubarb cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 bulb fennel sliced very thin
- 2 tbsp fresh mint sliced thin
- Butter lettuce leaves – about 4 cups
- fennel fronds
- 2 tbsp roasted pine nuts
- 2 tbsp fresh feta cheese
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- sea salt
- squeeze of meyer lemon juice
- zest of 1 meyer lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450
- Toss rhubarb with honey and allow to sit for 5 minutes
- Roast in oven for 5-8 minutes, until just tender. Allow to cool
- In the meantime toast pine nuts in oven until slightly brown.
- In a large bowl toss fennel, mint, and lettuce with olive oil, salt, and meyer lemon juice
- Arrange greens on 4 plates. To each plate add a few slices of rhubarb, pine nuts, feta, fennel fronds, and lemon zest. Drizzle some of the honey liquid from roasted rhubarb over top.
Nutrition
In addition to piling rhubarb on salads, I also reserve some for my morning yogurt parfait.
I simply combined honey roasted rhubarb with plain Greek yogurt, hemp seeds, coconut, and cinnamon. Yes, this one is drool-worthy.
Making rhubarb compote is another classic use of this veggie/fruit/veggie/fruit 😉
Here is my favorite rhubarb compote recipe.
I also found that rhubarb is ideally suited tucked into crumbly beautiful muffins. My favorite muffin of all time is cranberry walnut, I love the tart bite of cranberry with a sweet cake-y muffin. Well, if rhubarb is chopped small and subbed for cranberries in your favorite cranberry walnut muffin recipe they turn out absolutely delicious. I made a batch, but forgot to write down the recipe so you will have to play and let me know how yours turn out.
Final rhubarb in the kitchen thoughts…
I made this Earl Grey Rhubarb Sparkler and it was a total winner! It turns out that the citrus, and bergamot in Earl Grey tea work perfectly with tart rhubarb.
It’s so simple:
Earl Grey Rhubarb Sparkler
*Steep 2 earl grey tea bags in 2 cups of water for 10 minutes. Add 2 cups chopped rhubarb, 1/4 cup honey, and cook for 15 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Chill. Add sparkling water or champagne.
Rhubarb Recipe Update:
Try these too:
Easy Rhubarb Raspberry Compote
Thanks for reading Abra’s Kitchen! To see what goodness I’m whipping up be sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. If you make this recipe tag #abraskitchen on Instagram so I can see your creation 🙂
Meet Abra Pappa, MS, CNS, LDN
Abra is a licensed nutritionist, seasoned home cook, and forever flavor-chaser. She’s spent more than two decades exploring the connection between food and health—and just as long obsessing over what makes something truly delicious. Abra’s Kitchen is where those two loves meet, with recipes that celebrate vegetables, follow the seasons, and make you excited to cook.
Great suggestions!