Ma's Apron Strings: Tis The Season for Rhubarb

Sunday, June 16, 2019

Tis The Season for Rhubarb

I can remember the patch of rhubarb that grew at my mother's house, my childhood home. I also remember in the spring time when the rhubarb would get about foot tall and underneath those big dark green leaves you could find bright red stalks. As a young girl I would pick a stalk and go running back to the house to find the sugar bowl, where I would take that fresh picked stalk of rhubarb and stick it straight into the sugar bowl and then take a bite of the rhubarb and all of the sugar that would stick to it. This ritual would continue until the entire stalk had been dipped in sugar and then devoured. Great combination of sweet and sour. What I don't remember is my mom making anything with the rhubarb. That's not to say she didn't, I just don't remember or I didn't like it once it was cooked.

Now days I have a few small patches of rhubarb growing in my yard. I have trying to grow them for at least 10 years. They are slow in spreading but provide me with enough to make a few batches of Jelly or other treats. My backup plan involves good friends who have a large patch and they often let me pick my fill if I ask nicely.

This year I expanded my repertoire from just making Rhubarb Jelly to making a few other things.

I took my Raspberry Bar Recipe and turned it into Rhubarb Blueberry Squares.

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Next I swapped out half the blueberries in my Blueberry Lemon Loaf recipe for an equal amount of fresh chopped Rhubarb. Scooped the batter into paper lined muffin tins and made Blueberry Rhubarb Muffins.