Seven A Day

[kerravonsen]

I am now drinking the juice of four organic oranges, on ice. Today I got my first "assorted box" from a new organic fruit-and-veg online shop; my old one went out of business at the beginning of this year, if I recall correctly. Or was it the beginning of last year? Whatever.

This one... isn't as good, I don't think.
(1) It's more expensive, though that could be because they guarantee that everything is organic, unlike the other one.
(2) They already got two items wrong. I specifically said I didn't want avocados or potatoes, and they gave me an avocado and four potatoes.

The box also had the aforementioned four oranges, two mangos, a bag of mushrooms, a bundle of asparagus, a whole butter lettuce, some kiwi fruit, onions, a small bunch of coriander, four carrots, two cobs of corn and a bunch of rhubarb. I've never cooked rhubarb before - how does one cook rhubarb? I recall my sister saying that rhubarb makes a good base for a sorbet, so I'd like to try that.

Comments

[watervole]

Rhubarb is very easy to cook. Slice the stalk into slices roughly 1cm wide.

Discard all leaves as they are poisonous.

Put the sliced stalk into a pan with a small amount of water - come no more than a third of the way up the bottom layer of slices in the pan (so you don't get a result that is too runny). Stick a lid on the pan and cook at a low temperature. Take a peek every five minutes or so. When it's all become mush, it's done. You may want to stir it now and then just to rearrange the layers a little. When you've done it once, you'll have a better idea of the cooking time, but it won't hurt if you cook it too long, so there's no real worry.

It'll look like a pink, bubbly liquid with lots of short fibres and the occasional lump when it's done. You'll absolutely need to add sugar or some kind of sweetner, either during cooking or afterwards. Rhubarb is VERY tart.

It does make a good sorbet, but my favourite is rhubarb fool. Take the mixture above and put in a blender with hot custard, then let the whole mixture cool down and set in the bowl you want to serve it in.

We grow quite a bit of rhubarb on our allotment.

Don't forget to check to see if you need to add more sugar/sweetener before it sets.

[fred_mouse]

It also stews very nicely with banana. One thing to watch out for is that there are issues with calcium absorption when eating it. I had thought that the recommendation was to have calcium containing foods when eating it, but this site seems to be saying the opposite. Another thing that my mother in law does with rhubarb is to make a 'luna cake' - chunks of raw rhubarb are added to a basic cake mix, brown sugar sprinkled on top, and the whole lot baked. As the rhubarb cooks, it becomes smaller, and the top of the cake drops down where it is (poor explanation - example recipe here)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

This will not help you with your diet at all, but the only way I've ever had rhubarb is in pie or crumble.

We used to have a rhubarb patch in our back yard when I was growing up. If you like, I can ask my mom about it when the fam comes to visit this week.

[kerravonsen]

Can't hurt to ask. 8-)

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

This assortment is very interesting...
Rhubarb here is used for making a pie, it actually substitutes apples but it needs some special care - and I have never done it before, having apples in my garden.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

Cooking rhubarb is pretty simple.

Most recipes say wash, cut off leaves. Chop into chunks and then boil/ simmer for varying lengths of time, depending on how soft they like their rhubarb. With some sugar and more added "to taste" once it's cooked.

The wikiHow though covers some interesting sugar substitutes which may interest you.
http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-Rhubarb
Main hints are to
1: don't eat the leaves.
2: wash and cut into small pieces.
3: Choose cookware carefully as rhubarb can discolour if cooked in an aluminium or copper pan.

Here's a sorbet recipe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rhubarbsorbet_89903

I really like my rhubarb tart and with a dash of ginger as well.