#154: Rhubarb Days

Rhubarb history, making pie with Ruth Reichl, how to harvest, and rhubarb recipes for tea bread, tarts, cake, and pie.

A Little Rhubarb History

It’s not known by many, but Sumner, WA grows the majority of rhubarb for the entire United States. This little town, southeast of Seattle, is also the self-proclaimed Rhubarb Pie Capital of the World. Back in 2009 I was invited to pay a visit to a third generation rhubarb farm still run by the Leslie family.

The fields of lush green rhubarb plants on Farmer Ron Leslie’s farm go far up the hills in the distance. While we walked the fields he shared a bit of the history of the Sumner Rhubarb Growers Association and the race to harvest and pack the just picked stalks onto railroad freight cars, which were then shipped to the big east coast markets like Boston and New York well before the snow had melted from Michigan rhubarb fields.

Third generation rhubarb farmer Ron Leslie and me back in 2009

A Pie Making Afternoon

A few months earlier, I spent an afternoon making pie with Ruth Reichl. Ruth is one heck of a fine pie maker and we had a blast sharing our tips and tricks with one another. Ruth’s pie was made with Washington rhubarb, most likely from one of the Sumner farms, and she marveled at the size and beauty of the rhubarb stalks.

Ruth and me having one heck of a good time together making pies. She liked my apron so much that I made one and sent it to her after our special days.

The next day, with our pies safely packed in the back of the car, we set off for a day on a south Puget Sound beach where a crew was filming her. Pretty fun if I do say so myself!

And Today?

Those days of traveling coast to coast and meeting up with writers and chefs were pretty rarified and I’m grateful for all the experiences, but I’m more of a home girl and am truly quite happy tending my garden and flock of fluffs, creating in the kitchen, walking, reading and writing.

Home grown rhubarb from my garden. (photo by me)

Rhubarb Recipes

Rhubarb is a very versatile ingredient that is packed with flavor. We’ll start off the rhubarb season with four recipes.

• Rhubarb Tea Bread

• Rhubarb Tarts

• Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake

• Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pie

Home grown rhubarb (photo by me)

How to Harvest Rhubarb Stalks

To harvest rhubarb, reach way down inside the plant to the crown, grab hold of an individual stalk, and tug straight up, cleanly separating the stalk from the plant. Farmer Ron said that if you don’t pull straight up, chances are you’ll break the stalk which I had done many times before. Following his guidance, I pulled up a big red stalk completely intact. Then hold the stalk parallel to the ground, take a sharp knife and neatly trim off most all of the green leafy end, as well as the crown end that moments before had been attached to the plant.

To Peel or Not to Peel?
I don’t as the coloring and many vitamins are stored in rhubarb’s skin.

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Rhubarb Tea Bread

What You Need

• One 8 x 4 or 9 x 5 loaf

• 4 tablespoons butter, unsalted plus a bit extra for greasing the loaf pan

• 1 cup rhubarb, sliced and diced into small pieces

• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 cup milk or 1/2 and 1/2

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the loaf pan with butter.

2. Place butter in a small saucepan. Turn heat to low and let the butter melt. Add rhubarb and let cook for 5 minutes or so stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from heat and turn butter rhubarb mixture into a medium size bowl.

4. Add brown sugar and stir until combined.

5. In a small bowl, whisk egg with a fork. Add milk and vanilla, whisk until combined, and pour over rhubarb sugar mixture. Stir until combined.

6. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Pour on top of the wet ingredients and blend until everything is well combined and smooth-ish.

7. Turn into the greased loaf pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.

8. Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Then run a knife or thin spatula around the edges to release the loaf from the pan.

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Rhubarb Tarts

Tart Shells

What You Need

• Regular size muffin tin (not mini or jumbo)

• 5 tablespoons (72 g) butter, divided

• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

• 1 egg, fork beaten

• 1 cup (150 g) flour

• 2 tablespoons milk or half-and-half

How to Make the Tart Shells

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

2. In a medium bowl, place 4 tablespoons of the butter, sugar, and fork-beaten egg.

3. Mix with a handheld electric beater on a lowish setting until, more or less, it is combined.

4. Add the flour alternately with the milk, mixing lightly after each addition.

5. Gather into a ball and flatten out a bit. Cover with plastic and chill for about 30 minutes.

6. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Brush the melted butter in each well of a regular-size muffin tin.

7. Roll out the dough and cut into 4-inch (10 cm) circles. Gather the scrap dough together lightly and roll out again and cut until you have 12 circles.

8. Place a circle of dough in each of the buttered cups. Use your fingers to gently smooth it along the sides. It is okay if there are a few folds in the dough.

9. Fill each of the paper baking cups with about 2 tablespoons of pie weights and carefully place inside the dough-filled cups.

10. Bake on the bottom rack of the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

11. Remove the tin from the oven and remove the paper baking cups, taking care not to spill the weights. The baking cups can be saved and used again.

12. Remove the tart shells from the muffin tin and set on a cooling rack.

Rhubarb Filling

What You Need

• 3 tablespoons water

• 1/4 cup (30 g) cornstarch

• 3/4 cup (150 g) sugar

• 3 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2” pieces

• A tiny pinch of salt

• A small squeeze of juice from half a lemon

• A very small grating of fresh nutmeg

• A splash of Cointreau or other orange liqueur, or zest of 1 orange

• Powdered sugar

How to Make the Filling

1. In a small bowl, place the water and then whisk the cornstarch in briskly. Set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan, place the rhubarb, sugar, salt, lemon, nutmeg, and Cointreau or orange zest.

3. Cook over medium heat for about six minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add cornstarch mixture, bring to a boil, and cook for 2 minutes more, while continuing to stir. As it thickens, stir more vigorously.

5. Remove from heat and turn into a bowl. When cool, fill tart shells.

6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

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Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake

What You Need

• One 13 x 9-inch baking pan

• About 4 cups of rhubarb cut into 1/2” pieces

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 teaspoon ginger

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• A small pinch of salt

• 8 tablespoons butter, unsalted, at room temperature, plus a bit extra for greasing the cake pan

• 1 large egg

• 1 cup buttermilk

• Powdered sugar

How to Make It

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the cake pan with butter then dust it with flour and tap out any extra.

2. In a medium bowl, place the rhubarb, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, ginger, cinnamon, and stir to combine. Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl place the flour, baking soda, and salt and whisk until combined.

4. In a large bowl, place the butter and 1 cup of sugar and beat with an electric hand-mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat on medium-high until combined.

5. Turn the beater to low and add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the buttermilk. With the beater still on low, add 1/3 flour, and the remaining 1/2 buttermilk. Add the last 1/3 of the flour and beat until smooth.

6. With a silicone or rubber spatula, fold in the rhubarb and all the juice.

7. Pour the batter into the greased and floured pan. Use a spatula to spread it out evenly.

8. Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

9. Let cool. Dust with powdered sugar, cut into pieces, and serve.

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Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pie

What You Need

• One 9” deep dish pie pan

• 7-8 cups (875-1000 grams), 1¾-2 pounds, fresh or frozen (don’t thaw) rhubarb, cut into ½-1-inch pieces

• 1⅓ cups (265 grams) granulated sugar

• A small pinch of ground nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• ½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

• ⅓ teaspoon salt

• ½ cup (75 grams) flour

• 1 teaspoon quick-cooking tapioca (I add as rhuarb can be so very juicy)

• 1 recipe double-crust pie dough

• ½ tablespoon butter

• 1 tablespoon (12 grams) sugar for sprinkling on top

• Egg wash: 1 egg white plus 1 tablespoon water, fork beaten

How to Make It

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).

2. Place the rhubarb, sugar, nutmeg, lemon juice, salt, flour, and tapioca in a big bowl, and mix until the rhubarb looks like it is coated with coarse wet sand.

3. Roll out the bottom dough and place in pie pan.

4. Heap the filling over the dough in a pie plate and dot with butter broken into little pieces with your fingers.

5. Roll out the remaining dough, lay it over the fruit, and cut 5 to 6 vents on top, or cut strips and make a lattice top. Trim excess dough from the edges and crimp.

6. Bake for 15 minutes at 450°F (230°C). Reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 30 minutes more. Open the oven, carefully brush some of the egg wash over the top, and quickly sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar. Close the oven and continue baking for another 15 minute, or until you see steady bubbling in the filling coming through the vents or lattice.

7. Remove the pie from the oven and cool completely before serving. The longer it cools, the better it sets up, and the less runny it will be.

Rhubarb pie a la mode (photo by me)