Rhubarb: vegetables for dessert

Fresh and sour steal

Is it a vegetable or is it fruit? Rhubarb is often used in sweet desserts and pastries, but it is really a vegetable. The raspberry red stems will be available again from March.

Like sorrel and buckwheat, rhubarb is a plant of the knotweed family. The crop can withstand cold well and needs night frost to get strong. The stems and leaves emerge in the spring. From March to August, rhubarb is for sale in the open field.

There is also ‘forced rhubarb’: these growers grow them indoors in the dark at higher temperatures, which means that this rhubarb can be harvested earlier, but is also paler in color and less sour in taste.

Rhubarb contains a lot fiber and vitamin C and few calories, about 23 kilocalories per 100 grams. The roots were used as medicine in the past, because they have a laxative effect.

Oxalic acid
Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, a substance that binds calcium to itself and is toxic in large quantities. It also provides the sour taste. The leaves of rhubarb contain so much oxalic acid that they are poisonous, so never eat them. The small amount of acid in the stems won’t hurt as long as you don’t eat pounds of rhubarb in a row. After the longest day, June 21, the oxalic acid content in the stems increases. It is therefore better not to harvest rhubarb from your vegetable garden after that day.

Oxalic acid removes some calcium from the teeth, making your teeth feel rough after eating rhubarb, just like spinach. In the gut, the oxalic acid makes an insoluble compound with calcium, so you absorb less calcium when you eat rhubarb. If you eat a varied diet and get enough calcium, that is not a problem. You can neutralize the oxalic acid by adding a little lime while cooking rhubarb. However, there are also people who think that the rhubarb is less tasty.

People who kidney stones have had rhubarb containing calcium oxalate, it is better to leave rhubarb to prevent them from getting kidney stones again.

Buy and keep
In some species the stems are red, others have green stems or a mix of green and red. The green variety is more acidic, but it is not unripe and will not turn red. Buy rhubarb whose stems are hard and firm. Keep it in plastic in the refrigeratorso that the stems do not dry out. This way you can keep rhubarb for a few days.

Rhubarb can also be frozen in pieces in a tightly closed container. Blanching is not necessary first, it can be put in the freezer in pieces and it will remain good for about a year.

Applications
Remove the leaf and a piece of the bottom of the stem. If you want to keep the beautiful pink color, do not peel the stems. Remove any stiff threads from the stem.

A classic is rhubarb sauce. To do this, boil pieces of rhubarb of about two centimeters in a little bit of water. The purée is ready when the pieces begin to break apart into fibers after 10 to 15 minutes. Add sugar or sweetener to taste and eat the purée warm or cold, for example as a side dish to a hot meal or in combination with whipped cream or yogurt for dessert. You can also use rhubarb puree in cakes.

Recipes