Rhubarb - revisited

[red]

Oh yuck - to both! There seem to be a lot of recipes on American recipe sites which add tins of condensed soup, usually mushroom, to all sorts of things. The thought makes me want to barf quite honestly!

its happennig more in the UK too tho - see it in magazine recipes all the tiem - a 'recipe' where you take two or three pre-made things mix and hey presto homemade something or other - you know like 'cut up some lyons ginger cake and put in a bowl, add a tin of ambrosia custard, then top with a can of squirty cream and you have ginger trifle!'

err no you dont you have revolting mess and thats not 'cooking' thats opening tins....


ok off soapbox now...

[pskipper]

For those lucky people who have rhubarb (hmmm, I love it, just have to buy it) and get too much why not try the viking option, stewed with Pork, actually quite nice in a sharp apple sauce type way and much better than condensed soup :)

[Gollum]

Well now, the way to get delicious rhubard is to force it, apparently, so check out the link below to see what the RHS says on the subject.

Forced stems are sweeter than 'standard' stems, so need less sugar in cooking and lack that bitter taste and stringiness. Rhubarb can be forced either in pots (in which case it's better to bin the plant afterwards) or in the ground (where it should be left to recover for a season or so after being forced). Rather than buying fancy forcing jars, a black plastic dustbin will do the trick if you don't want to keep the plant afterwards. In the ground, a column of car tyres stuffed with straw will suffice.

Forcing essentially involves breaking the plant's dormancy early, then depriving it of light to cause the shoots to soar upwards quickly. Excluding light also reduces the build-up of oxalic acid in the stems, which turns them green and bitter. This is yea verily the poisonous element found in the leaves (and in green potatoes that have been exposed to light).

See http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles1105/rhubarb.asp for further wisdom on the subject.

[STHLMgreen]

When I took over my plot there were 4 healthy rhubarb plants that had survived at leat a year of total neglect. I pulled a few stems immediately ...We had rhubarb crumble before I had ever put spade to earth.

I have to say this was my experience as well. When I got my allotment last fall there was one big rhubarb plant that was very healthy. It sat in partial shade.

Nothing else on our allotment was healthy. The plum and cherry tree hadn't produced fruit in a couple of years as the plot was not used.

The rhubarb was healthy and tasty even in the fall.
Hardy plant that it is!

[Cheezy]

Rhubarb does like moist ground and does especially well in clay soils.

Which is why it has probably suffered in 3M's sandy soil.

If it's in clay you don't need to water (my mum never did a thing ever to it) at all or do anything. It all makes sence when you think that it's a cultivated form of Gunnera which is native to the Brazilian rain forest!

[Cheezy]

Nothing more to say but accidentially posted the same thing twice, if someone would like to delete this one , please feels free!

[Millymollymandy]

Nah, I'm leaving it there cos I like watching Laurel & Hardy dancing!

I didn't know rhubarb was related to Gunnera but always thought it resembled it!

We have dug up two of my rhubarb plants for forcing in a dustbin as per the RHS article posted by Gollum (who is my hubby ). I have too many plants taking up too much space so I can afford to chuck these two when they have finished.

Will keep you posted as to how they work!

[the.fee.fairy]

I had a rhubarb plant - and clay soil...and i watered it, it looked a bit off, so i neglected it (went on holiday)...and then composted it when i got back!

useless...can't grow rhubarb...