Drink it, dip it or bake it — rhubarb season is here: Jasmine Mangalaseril
Spring vegetable starts to grow when the soil temperature reaches about 10 C
Whether tumbled with strawberries for pies, cooked down for sauces or chutneys, or simply eaten raw, dipped in sugar (or salt), rhubarb is here.
The cold-hardy perennial vegetable — it's not a fruit — begins to grow when the soil temperature reaches about 10 C.
Jeannette French of Lennox Farm in Melancthon, Ont., said the lingering winter and ice storms caused delays.
"Usually we're done [harvesting field rhubarb] by the beginning of July. But this year, because it's been so cool, it's pushed the season back," French said.
Lennox Farm was established in Etobicoke in the 1880s. They moved to Melancthon about a century later and have been growing forced rhubarb since 1916. Where once there were dozens of forced rhubarb growers in the province, many gave up after power rates spiked during the energy crisis in the 1970s.
Brian and Jeannette French are Ontario's last commercial forced rhubarb growers.
Forced vs field
Today, field rhubarb is grown on just less than a third of Lennox Farm's 121 hectares, with five forcing sheds (greenhouses to grow off-season plants) growing forced rhubarb. They harvest 155 to 175 metric tonnes annually, or about half of Ontario's commercial crop, supplying restaurants and stores.
Harvested from January to March or April, forced rhubarb grows in the dark, like white asparagus. Because the plant's sugars concentrate in the stalks it's often sweeter than field grown.
"Rhubarb that's growing [in forcing sheds] is a nice bright pink or sometimes a reddish colour. The leaves are really tiny and yellow because photosynthesis isn't really taking place, so the chlorophyll is not in the leaves or in the stalk," said French.
Garden stalks
If you're looking to grow your own rhubarb and you're starting with new roots, plant in heavy, rich soil, and keep the soil fertilized and moist. Resist the urge to harvest for the first two or three years, to avoid stressing the root.
Avoid companion planting with cucumbers, melons and sunflowers. Instead, rhubarb grows well with brassicas like broccoli and cabbage or herbs like chives and thyme. You can grow it alongside garlic as well.
Rhubarb bolts send up astilbe-like flowers when temperatures rise above 20 C. Bolting can also happen if the plant is stressed or when it should be divided. To keep harvesting stalks, cut flower stems so the plant's energy focuses on stalks.
A bit of crunch
"It should hold firm," said Chef Darnell Gregg, executive chef at the Boathouse DTK. "By the time it starts getting a little bit soft and kind of flaccid looking, the best days are behind it.'
He also suggested choosing rhubarb stalks with strong pink or green colouring, without brown spots.
Leaves and flower stems contain oxalic acid, which is poisonous to people and animals, so discard them. If you're not using the rhubarb immediately, wash well, cut the ends and wrap them in damp toweling before refrigerating.
And if you're looking for something to pair the rhubarb with other than strawberries, Gregg said to play off it's sour components.
"Anywhere that you think about using something like a lemon ... you have the options of either adding sweetness like sugar to it, to tone down those things, or you add some acid ... and all of the sudden it becomes an amazing pickle for a charcuterie board."
On the savoury side you can pickle rhubarb with ginger or mustard, to go with rich or fatty cheeses, meats or fish. You can also cook it with mint and basil. Consider adding pink peppercorn, fenugreek, cinnamon or cardamom if you're making chutneys or sauces.
On the sweet side, roast it with sugar or make a thick syrup for ice cream or pancakes.
Pour it in a glass
Rhubarb juice can be drunk like lemonade or mixed into cocktails.
Katrina Salmon, bar manager at Bardō Guelph, suggested making spritzes with rhubarb juice, but alcohol pairings could include gin, vodka or rum.
She also said you can find inspiration in pie.
"You could do [something] caramelly, if you want to use bourbon. A sour would be nice as well, it still has a richness, and it'll bring that little tart aspect," Salmon said.
Katrina Salmon's Rhubarb Mule Cocktail
4 lime wedges
4 basil leaves
2 oz London dry gin
1 oz Rhubarb syrup
Ice
Ginger beer
Muddle lime and basil in a tall Collins glass.
Add gin, rhubarb syrup, and ice.
Top with a splash of ginger beer.
Garnish with a fresh lime wheel and fresh basil leaves.
LISTEN | Get the most of rhubarb this season: Jasmine Mangalaseril
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