This tart and zesty, brilliantly hued vegetable, alas, has a short season—which is why this time of year is sometimes referred to as the micro-season in which to romance rhubarb. Just as summer romances can come and go, so does our time to enjoy farm-fresh rhubarb.
Rhubarb Taste
If you ask us, rhubarb tastes like sunshine—but we know that’s pretty vague, so we’ll try to get more specific. It’s a taste sensation at the intersection of fresh celery and green apple with an extra twist of tang—and maybe a touch of cranberry.
In reality, the flavor of rhubarb is so unique that we recommend you try it. Let us know how you would describe the taste.
How to Cook Rhubarb
Here’s what Chef Jamie Simpson of the Culinary Vegetable Institute says about our light green to bright red rhubarb. This variety holds its brilliant hues under fire: “Although leaves, herbs, and flowers can be tart, rhubarb is unique in that it’s a full-on tart vegetable,” Jamie says, “something you can enjoy by the forkful. Rhubarb is delicate, though, and can be mistreated by being buried in sugar. We instead embrace its acidity and even cook it in vinegar. Its unique sour flavor adds a layer of depth to dishes.”
Many diners adore traditional applications of rhubarb—whether that’s a rhubarb-strawberry cobbler, pie, tart, or crisp—and so do we. After all, the one-of-a-kind tartness of fresh rhubarb combines perfectly with sweet ingredients in these desserts for an unforgettable flavor.
Jamie also likes to lean into rhubarb in places where, more typically, lemon or another citrus would be incorporated into a dish. This can include salad dressing; he recently created a simple yet delicious rhubarb-knotweed dressing that he served over poached vegetables.
Chopped rhubarb works wonderfully well when cooked and blended with barbecue sauce, as a flavor brightener on grilled salmon and other fish courses, and pickled.
It’s a perfect complement for lemonades, iced teas, and more, perhaps by creating and adding a simple rhubarb syrup and then using a petite stalk as a garnish. “We’ve made bottled rhubarb soda,” Jamie shares, “out of rhubarb juice and water, sugar and yeast. When fermented in a bottle, the result is a delicious carbonated drink and also lends itself well in cocktails.”
Add whole stalks into vodka and gin bottles or create a one-to-one sugar/water mixture blended with cooked rhubarb for old-fashioned cocktails.
Other ideas:
- Shave and blanch in cold water
- Juice it
- Candy it
- Dehydrate it
Our only rule is the one that follows: enjoy your rhubarb! If we had a second rule, it would be to expand your creativity and use it in delightfully unexpected ways.
Health Benefits of Rhubarb
“Rhubarb is a rich source of nutrients providing 45% of Daily Value of Vitamin K in a serving size of 1 cup. In addition, rhubarb contains Vitamin C and A, along with Folate, Riboflavin, and Niacin. Rhubarb provides 32% of Daily Value of manganese in a serving. Other nutrient/minerals include Iron, Potassium and Phosphorus. Rhubarb is also comprised of phytochemicals and phenols that provide the body with additional health benefits.” (Penn State)
Some of the health benefits of rhubarb listed by WebMD.com include the following:
- Helps to maintain bone health
- Assists in blood clotting
- Protects the health of your heart
- Aids in digestion
- Helps to prevent cancer
- Fights against inflammation
At The Chef’s Garden, flavor is considered royalty: king, queen, prince—and princess, too. And what we’ve learned over the years is that when we regeneratively grow crops for the maximum flavor, nutrition levels skyrocket. We’d suspected that for decades, but fairly recently, this has been confirmed by independent lab testing. So, we can confidently share that, at The Chef’s Garden, we are growing flavorful, farm-fresh vegetables that can have 300 to 600 percent more nutrients than the USDA baseline.
All that nutrition is something that tastes delicious!
History of Rhubarb
Rhubarb has been prized for literally thousands of years, and it was used for health-related reasons five thousand years ago in China. In ancient times, people in Arabian countries, plus Greeks and Romans, all appreciated rhubarb—and, to no one’s surprise, Marco Polo found people enjoying an outstanding kind of rhubarb in the Sukchu mountains in China in 1271.
Rhubarb made its way to Western Europe through trade routes in the seventeenth century, with French chefs quickly taking to it. It took a while longer for it to be used in Great Britain, but we know that in 1770, Benjamin Franklin possessed a rhubarb root case. He was in London then and sent it to the American Colonies, recommending it as a medicine.
By the mid-nineteenth century, British farmers had improved the rhubarb quality grown there, and cooks responded by incorporating it into more recipes, including those by Mrs. Beeton. In 1829, rhubarb seeds began to be included in American catalogs, and their usage has only increased.
Order Fresh Rhubarb for Your Seasonal Dishes and Menus
We invite you to discuss ordering rhubarb for your seasonal menus with your product specialist. This deliciously tart rhubarb has the zest and zing needed to elevate your creative dishes to another level, and we look forward to hearing how you use it!
You can find more information about rhubarb in our new book, The Chef’s Garden: A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables—with Recipes.