Forgotten Rhubarb Recipes • from crumble to fool! (2024)

FAQs

What takes the tartness out of rhubarb? ›

Although it can be eaten raw, rhubarb tends to be too tart this way, and it's usually best when cooked with plenty of sugar. It goes well with both ginger and strawberries.

"You want to peel off the first layer, and then you want to simmer it with some brown sugar and ginger," he explains. "Once you let it simmer, and it's soft, let it sit overnight. Now you have these tender ribbons that you can jar up, or you can put them on anything."

Rhubarb has a lot of water, more than you would think when you look at it and cut into it. This means, if you don't add enough thickener to it, the juices will create a soupy filling that is difficult to serve and quite watery.

Rhubarb Crumble can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Can Rhubarb Crumble be frozen? Rhubarb Crumble can be made ahead and frozen for up to 3 months.

Of course, it does need sweetener; it's so sour without it! My advice is yes, try honey! The recipe pictured above (and linked below) includes some honey along with the sugar; try making it with just the honey and see how it turns out.

Limp rhubarb can be perked up by standing the stems upright in chilled water for about an hour. A word of warning: rhubarb leaves are poisonous due to their relatively high oxalic acid content and must be discarded. The shredded leaves, mixed with water, were once used as an insecticide to spray over plants and bushes.

It also can rely on some of nature's best sweeteners—honey and orange juice—to bring it to its sweetest, most flavorful heights.

Contrary to popular belief, whether it's red, pink, green or something in-between, rhubarb's color has nothing to do with ripeness. Rather, its hue is completely determined by genes; different varieties produce different colors, and green rhubarbs are just as sweet as red ones.

Use a small spoon of honey instead of sugar, as its sweeter than sugar, but helps with that bitterness in cooking. Cooking with pure fruit juice or chopped sweet fruits like dates, raisin, apple or berries. If you like bananas, stew your rhubarb in water and puree with a banana, the banana adds the sweetness.

Butter, which encourages both browning and crispness, is the magic ingredient in getting your topping just right, so follow the recipe instructions. But if you feel your topping is still too dry and crumbly, (even for a crumble) add a bit more melted butter, a tablespoon at a time.

Can you overcook crumble? ›

Go too hot and the crumble topping with get too dark before the fruit is ready. You'll be left with too-hard fruit and a burnt topping, which will make both you and us sad. If the top could use a little extra browning, jack the temperature or broil it after it's fully baked. Just keep a vigilant watch!

Usually it's the crumble that wrong. It might be too lean, making it rather dry and everlasting to eat, or it's undercooked so that it has the pasty flavour of uncooked flour.

Cover with fresh foil, then reheat in a preheated oven at gas 5, 190°C, fan 170°C for 40 mins until piping hot – remove the foil for the last 10 mins to crisp up the crumble again. For more tips on freezing and defrosting food, read our article Love Your Freezer.

Absolutely! You can freeze the crumble baked, or unbaked. Our only suggestion would be to cook the rhubarb layer first to ensure it is cooked through when defrosted. The crumble might be a little liquidy than normal, but will still taste delicious.

Rhubarb Compotes and Sauce

Orange juice and dried fruits (such as dates, says Mark Bittman in “How to Cook Everything;” currants work well, too) along with cinnamon or perhaps cloves can help cut back on the need for added sugar.

How Do You Neutralize Sour Taste in Food? If a dish is too sour, add a little bit of sugar! Sweetness balances out sour flavors, so if something makes your mouth pucker, a dash of sugar may help soften the blow of the sour food.

Neutralizing Rhubarb's Acidity

Once the rhubarb has given up its juices, pull it from the oven and stir in a quarter teaspoon of baking soda using a heat-resistant spatula.