Beyond Pie: The Brilliance of Rhubarb

When we bought our home last year, I was so thrilled to see a rhubarb plant waiting for us within the predominantly bare ‘blank slate’ of a backyard.

Why? Because beyond the fact that it’s a perennial and makes a gorgeous strawberry-rhubarb pie, I’ve discovered the versatility of this perennial veg (that for ridiculous reasons the USDA refers to as a fruit) over the years and continue to this day.

Originally, it was pickling. My husband fell in LOVE with pickled rhubarb - so I’ve made a couple quarts of that each year.

Then it was bread, as rhubarb is a great candidate for quick breads (check out in particular the multiple versions of rhubarb buttermilk bread online…hella yum, y’all…).

After that came chicken (I especially dig this recipe), and then just tossing it into all kinds of things where a little crunch never hurt (kind of like celery or even bell pepper), from curry to stew. And more recently, I thin sliced some and made these amazing rhubarb, cardamom and ricotta parcels with some puff pastry I had lying around that melted in our mouths...

Perennial veggies are such a gift, especially when you had to restart your garden from scratch. We are experimenting with a few others, including tree collards, and will report back later...

"I loved rhubarb, that hardy, underappreciated garden survivor that leafed out just as the worst of winter melted away." ~ Judith Fertig