Rhubarb Season!

TedTheewen

AW's Most Adorable Sociopath
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
29,517
Reaction score
4,412
Location
In a van parked outside of your house.
Website
tedscreepyvan.blogspot.com
rhubarb marmalade:
(ala 1948)

You'll need: 4 pounds of rhubarb, 5 pounds of sugar, 1 pound of seeded raisins, the rind of 1 lemon (cut in shreds), juice of 2 oranges, a half teaspoon of cloves, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Wash and cut the rhubarb into one inch pieces. Cover with sugar and let stand overnight. Add remaining ingredients, heat to the boiling point, reduce heat, and let simmer -stirring frequently or it will burn to bottom of pot!- simmer approximately forty minutes - or until thick. Pour into sterilized jars, seal and cool*.

*I usually start washing ten jelly jar sized 'canning jars' through the dishwasher as I make the Marmalade. When it's ready, I'll pour the hot marmalade into the warm jars, clean off the lip, add a new lid, screw on and tighten the ring, then set the filled jars upside down for a half an hour before turning them upright. (You may wish to hot bath them, or paraffin wax seal, or whatever you might do with a jelly-like product =)


It is, once again, rhubarb season. And I am preparing to make this. I cannot wait.

About how many jars do you fill with it?
 

L M Ashton

crazy spec fic writer
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
5,027
Reaction score
518
Location
I'm not even sure I know anymore...
Website
lmashton.com
I LOVE rhubarb. Alas, while I can occasionally get rhubarb where I am (currently Malaysia), it's not very good. I used to get it by the bushel in Canada. Jams, crumbles, chutneys... Yum!

So. You know. I'm jealous. :D
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,686
Reaction score
6,595
Location
west coast, canada
I think it's a bulky plant for most modern small gardens. (Or fashion: why does no-one grow lilac any more?) We used to have rhubarb at the old house, but I don't have many garden spots that aren't already in use. Maybe some gardener will know: rhubarb being a clumping plant, how would it do grown in a large tub? It's decorative enough, it might work in the last sunny spot by the door.
 
Last edited:

JustKia

My inner voice has terrible grammar
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
324
Reaction score
18
Location
Warwickshire, UK
I've 2 very established rhubarb crowns* and a 3rd just getting going.
How much can/should I harvest at a time?
Usually I just pick enough for a crumble but I'd like to get some put up in the freezer. I remember hearing/reading that the more you pick the more it grows - is that true?
I'm just worried that if I over harvest it, I'll do some damage to the crowns.

*I think those crowns are actually multiple crowns and that the rhubarb has divided it self as there are multiple "clusters" of stems in each patch.
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
10,062
Reaction score
7,524
Location
Virginia
I just planted rhubarb for the first time and this thread is a godsend!
 

KellyAssauer

The Anti-Magdalene
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
44,975
Reaction score
14,604
Location
inbetween
How much can/should I harvest at a time?

Harvesting rhubarb is a little like asparagus, in that there's a period of time that you can pick, and the plant produces more stems. I found a great article here on wiki that explains it all.

I couldn't tell you specifically because I don't know what growing season you are in or how long the plants have been established. If the plants have been there at least three years... and they are flurishing, then you should be able to pull out firm reddish stems that are between 1.5cm/0.5" and 2.5cm/1" wide. Don't go crazy with it.

I have 4 plants that have been here 10 years. I just went out and carefully selected several of the thicker stems. The thinner ones I left will soon get wider because I thinned it.

I doubt I picked an eighth of what was there, and I'll go back out in three or four days. If I remember, I'll continue to do this until about the 4th of July. =)

To answer Ted about the number of jars...

I checked my cookbook and it doesn't say. Apparently in 1936 they just assumed you had a pile of jars.

I made two batches last fall and if I remember correctly (yeah-right) I know I filled about 20 jelly jars. However... I'm one of those people that has come up short a time too many when I'm canning and have learned to be prepared.

So what I did then, and what I would do again, is have a 2 pint jars (twice the size of a jelly) all washed and handy just in case I flubbed it big time.

The other thing I'd have handy... are some dinner rolls. The Rhubarb Marmalade is amazing (warm or cold) on some warm dinner rolls. So don't can it all! - toss that not-quite filled last jar into the fridge to Nom on later! =)
 
Last edited:

Chrissy

Bright and Early for the Daily Race
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
7,249
Reaction score
2,005
Location
Mad World
I had an English teacher in high school who told us that in television, all the extra actors in any given scene (restaurant, dinner party, subway, whatever) in regards to all that background noise they make? She said they are all saying "rhubarb." Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb, said over and over by all the extras makes the perfect background to sound like people actually conversing.

I think this is a lie, but it's stuck in my memory. It's been 25 years but still...you say rhubarb, I think television background noise. It's awful. Maybe I should sue someone.
 

TedTheewen

AW's Most Adorable Sociopath
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
29,517
Reaction score
4,412
Location
In a van parked outside of your house.
Website
tedscreepyvan.blogspot.com
I like that story better!

So, my patch is coming along great. Today we had a ton of rain and on Wednesday, I plan to make an attempt at jam. It'll be a single batch and my second attempt at a jam ever. The first batch made great ice cream topping.

Kelly, I'll take pics and let you know how it goes.
 

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
4,827
Reaction score
336
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Website
home.comcast.net
Is it true that one should avoid harvesting rhubarb that is flowering? Mine starts flowering about the same time the tulips bloom each spring, but keeps going for quite a while after that... -_-
 

TedTheewen

AW's Most Adorable Sociopath
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Messages
29,517
Reaction score
4,412
Location
In a van parked outside of your house.
Website
tedscreepyvan.blogspot.com
Is it true that one should avoid harvesting rhubarb that is flowering? Mine starts flowering about the same time the tulips bloom each spring, but keeps going for quite a while after that... -_-

If a stem starts to flower, get rid of it. Cut it.

I can't believe you have rhubarb flowering already...are you sure it's going to seed?
 

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
4,827
Reaction score
336
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Website
home.comcast.net
If a stem starts to flower, get rid of it. Cut it.

I can't believe you have rhubarb flowering already...are you sure it's going to seed?
It's absolutely flowering, lol, the flower stalks are waist-high with big bunches of white flowers. The second year I had the rhubarb I tried cutting the flowering stalks off but they just came back over and over all summer, and it was tiring the plant out to keep producing more flower stalks, so I game up. After ignoring the rhubarbs entirely the next year the crowns were much bigger and healthier.

This isn't a picture of my plants but mine look almost identical to this example:
rhubarb-flowering-300x256.jpg
 

KellyAssauer

The Anti-Magdalene
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
44,975
Reaction score
14,604
Location
inbetween
My Grandmother taught me about rhubarb. How to pick it, clean it, and how to make pies. Still, today, when I mention rhubarb, so few people understand what I'm talking about. I hate to say all the older people do... but ahem...

So it came to no surprise to me at all when the dear little lady that worked at the service desk at our local grocerue* store asked me in passing if I knew where to get some rhubarb. Of course I knew, I had it growing in my garden. She perked right up and asked if I might have enough to spare to make two pies. We figured out how many pounds she needed and the next day I picked, washed, cut, bagged and delivered a little more than what she'd asked.

It's been that way now every spring for the last seven years. Last week I went out, picked, washed, cut, bagged and then stuck the 'barb in the freezer figuring I'd see her yesterday or today - except - she passed away on Friday at age 88. (Yep, was a fixture at the store. Worked four hours five days a week until she didn't call in Friday morning.)

So now I'm kinda stuck.
Do I take her bagged rhubarb down to her daughter's house?
Or do I go ahead and make the pies and then take those down?

:Shrug:
 

cray

Superior Life form
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
41,200
Reaction score
17,716
Location
Post #37264
either would be a wonderful gesture but........

pies!
 

KellyAssauer

The Anti-Magdalene
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 3, 2006
Messages
44,975
Reaction score
14,604
Location
inbetween
That was my first thought, but if I don't make them just like Mom did... well, it's still the thought right?
 

shestval

No more horror books at 1am
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 12, 2013
Messages
216
Reaction score
39
Location
surrounded by corn
Aw man, shouldn't have read this thread, now I'm craving rhubarb and it's crazy expensive at the farmer's market.

Once we own a house, I'm definitely going to plant some. Until then, I'll just bite my tongue at the price and buy it as a treat once a year.