What to do with rhubarb?
Our children even enjoy munching on the sour stalks.
If you’re like me, you grew up knowing only one use for rhubarb - strawberry rhubarb pie. With an overabundance of rhubarb most years, I have explored many other options for rhubarb.
Feast or famine
Since my dad accidentally tilled up the rhubarb on a regular basis, we rarely had rhubarb growing up. Then when I purchased my first house, the rhubarb stalks were very tiny and tedious to pick, wash, and chop. I questioned if it was worth the effort.
But this is no longer the case. Our rhubarb is the most robust plant, bearing large thick stalks. A few years ago, we moved our plants once in the fall and decided it wasn’t a good spot and moved again in the spring and STILL had plenty of rhubarb to harvest that year!
I should not be surprised since we received our rhubarb from my husband’s parents. Their plants were too big, so they even dug it up and threw it in the woods - and guess what - it took off. Two years ago when we visited in July, I witnessed the biggest rhubarb plants I have ever seen. - it was something you’d expect to see in the Amazon Jungle. We picked and picked and had no use for it, so we canned it. And we just finished the last jar off a few weeks ago!
Here’s tips on harvesting rhubarb.
Our rhubarb plants are indestructible, even when our kids decimate them!
Things to do with rhubarb - Forest Gump style
Since I’ve given up sweets last year, I needed to get creative to eat up our bags of rhubarb in the freezer (literally gallons).
We’ve tried to dream up every way to make rhubarb, just like Forest Gump says:
Anyway, like I was sayin', rhubarb is the fruit that keeps on giving. You can roast it, boil it, can it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb smoothies, rhubarb oatmeal, rhubarb pancakes, rhubarb sauce for your pancakes, even rhubarb ketchup. That- that's about it.
Yes, rhubarb ketchup
We went so far as to make rhubarb ketchup - which we call “rhu-up”. Although it’s not exactly our favorite, it is a conversation piece. We’re down to our last couple of jars from 2015! I mainly use it in place of chutney for roasts or for a sauce on a hot pork or roast beef sandwich since onion is the dominating flavor.
Our go-tos
Our go-tos have been rhubarb oatmeal and rhubarb pancakes. My rhubarb oatmeal recipe is pretty basic and only takes a few extra minutes to make. I can sweeten by adding pureed frozen strawberries. Unfortunately we ran out of frozen strawberries so now I have to add a little sugar (my husband says it’s a lot) to my oatmeal, but the rest of my family just sprinkles in some blueberries to sweeten it.
Batter (left), pancakes on the griddle (back center), cooked rhubarb (right) and cooked pancakes (front center) - yum!
My rhubarb pancakes recipe is also pretty basic. You can essentially pick your favorite pancake recipe and add rhubarb (I’ve even added raw thawed frozen rhubarb in a time crunch before). I don’t add any sugar to my recipe below and maple syrup alone is enough for our family to sweeten our pancakes.
You can also make rhubarb sauce to top the pancakes - maple syrup complements this well! I’d advise topping regular pancakes as a double dose of rhubarb may be a little much!
When we can’t get enough rhubarb is our pancakes, we can always add a side of raw rhubarb!
Rhubarb Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 T baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
3 T vegetable oil
2 cups milk
1 cup diced rhubarb (fresh or thawed frozen rhubarb)
Directions
Cook the rhubarb in a saucepan for 5 minutes. If using fresh rhubarb, add a little water.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Pour batter onto a greased griddle.
Flip pancakes once golden on one side.
Remove pancakes from griddle once second side is golden and enjoy!
Yield: 24 pancakes