When I was little my Mom would give us (my big sister and me) a plastic cup with a little (gasp) white sugar in the bottom and a freshly pulled stalk of spring rhubarb to snack on. As we dipped the rhubarb in the sugar and gnawed away, the sweet crunch of sugar mingled nicely with the tart kick of rhubarb.
It's in there...can you see it?
I don’t think I would find that too appetizing anymore, I don’t really like eating from plastic cups, or white sugar (if I can see it!), but I still love rhubarb!
There’s something special about rhubarb in the spring, and it’s all part of my “eat seasonal foods” strategy. I feel like my body needs it, it seems a tonic after a winter of savoury, heavy foods.
Here she comes!
One of my favourite ways to eat rhubarb is stewed. It’s too easy, and you can adjust the sweet/tart balance to your taste.
Pull a few stalks (several if you plan to share) remove the leaf and the base where it was attached to the plant, and wash well.
Ready to eat rhubarb
Cut it up into 1″ chunks and toss in a small pot with a skiff of water (just covering the bottom of the pot).
It's kind of short yet so I'll just take a few
Put the heat on low and simmer gently til the rhubarb falls apart into mush, it usually takes around 30 minutes. As the rhubarb cooks add the sweetener of your choice, I like golden brown sugar or honey. Add and taste until you have found a balance of tart and sweet that you like.
And you’re done! I like to eat it while it’s still warm, or chilled from the fridge, or at room temperature. I guess I like it any old way…
Hmmm, I'm not sure there's enough for sharing....
Hortophile - My New Garden 
mmmm….I love it warm over vanilla ice cream…thanks, now I have the munchies 🙂
Sorry, there’s none left!
My grandmother used to make strawberry-rhubarb pie. Heavenly.
I think its best with warm homemade custard….yum
I love rhubarb – your plant looks very healthy and producing well. You have inspired me to start one off in my garden.
Have you tried making a rhubarb and apple crumble? Yummy! It’s delicious with warm custard over the top!
Yes, it is, I also enjoy rhubarb/blackberry crumble.
Your Rhubarb looks so healthy and lovely and red! I adore rhubarb crumble! They don’t seem to sell rhubarb in Portugal..I am on my third attempt and growing it…but its green and skinny 😦
PiP
The best fertilizer I’ve found for rhubarb is composted manure.
My sister-in-law says she can remember eating raw rhubarb dipped in sugar. She says that the rhubarb was really just a way of transporting the sugar to her mouth…
Yes, I’m pretty sure there was rhubarb left when the sugar was all gone!
My sentiments exactly, warm, cold or even at room temperature. I have many plants of rhubarb which a very old rhubarb farmer gave me 16 years ago. I keep dividing them and they are awesome. It is a very red rhubarb called Canadian Red. We grew up on rhubarb and we didn’t even eat it with sugar. There were nine chidren and not a lot of sugar to spare for that many. So we just got use to the real taste. I do love it stewed best. My cheater rhubarb pie is a piece of home made wheat bread toasted with a small pad of real butter then layer warm stewed rhubarb (sweetened with honey) on top. IT IS DELICIOUS. Oh my old rhubarb farmer told me that rhubarb also loves hardwood ash. He told me I COULD never put too much on the soil for the plant. I give all my plants a fresh doze every fall and I also use manure.
Your “pie” sounds delicious – I’ll have to try it! A few weeks ago I made a batch of blackberry-rhubarb jam. I love blackberry jam and the addition of rhubarb elevates the flavour to something near jammy nirvana – sooo good!
Did you use frozen blackberries? I have lots of wild ones left from last years yield. I was going to use them for juice but might try the jam. Do you have a special recipe you use that you might like to share. Mostly curious to know if you remove some of the seed. I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! GREAT JOB.
Yes, I used frozen blackberries – I just stewed the rhubarb for a bit before adding some blackberries and then more or less followed the instructions on the box of certo pectin. Probably a ratio of 1/3 rhubarb to 2/3 blackberries, and I leave all the seed in, I much prefer jam to jelly!