Best Strawberry Rhubarb Recipes - Sweet, Tart & Yummy (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the tartness out of rhubarb? ›

Sweeten It: Rhubarb's natural tartness can be balanced with sugar or other sweeteners. You can make rhubarb compote, pie, or jam by simmering chopped rhubarb with sugar until it becomes tender and sweet. Adjust the amount of sugar to your taste.

Discard leaves and woody ends. Wash rhubarb with cool tap water, but do not soak.

"Once you let it simmer, and it's soft, let it sit overnight. Now you have these tender ribbons that you can jar up, or you can put them on anything." Removing the first layer of skin will take away its "rubbery taste" and bring out the stalk's most appealing flavors, and the brown sugar will temper the tartness.

The rhubarb contains so much water, you either have to add too much thickener or coax the rhubarb to release its liquid before thickening it. What's the answer? To solve this problem, I mix the rhubarb with the sugar. Over time, the sugar draws out the excess juices.

Of course, it does need sweetener; it's so sour without it! My advice is yes, try honey! The recipe pictured above (and linked below) includes some honey along with the sugar; try making it with just the honey and see how it turns out.

While cinnamon may be a more common spice to pair with rhubarb, citrusy, herbal cardamon lends a warm, citrusy note to a dish. A big pinch of ground cardamom can be added to any cake, pie, or compote, or you can simply add a little to the whipped cream you'll be topping your rhubarb dessert with.

But toss it with sugar and bake it into cake, pie, shortbread or jam, and rhubarb's bitterness fades and becomes delicious. While it's most commonly used in combination with other fruits to make sweet treats, rhubarb has several savory applications.

Limp rhubarb can be perked up by standing the stems upright in chilled water for about an hour. A word of warning: rhubarb leaves are poisonous due to their relatively high oxalic acid content and must be discarded. The shredded leaves, mixed with water, were once used as an insecticide to spray over plants and bushes.

Method. Put the rhubarb into a saucepan with the orange zest, juice, sugar and 2 tbsp water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 8 mins until the rhubarb is cooked but still holds its shape.

Watering and feeding

Established rhubarb plants – water only during prolonged dry periods in summer or in very light, free-draining soil. Growth will slow down and even stop if conditions are too hot and dry. Rhubarb in containers – water regularly throughout the growing season, as the compost will dry out quickly.

What is the sweetest rhubarb? ›

Victoria is among the most widely-grown of all Rhubarb varieties, and the reasons are simple: it can be harvested after just one year, and it is without a doubt the sweetest and juiciest of all!

Macerate Your Rhubarb With Sugar To Draw Out Excess Liquid

Mixing fruit with sugar draws out moisture through the process of osmosis, which happens when water naturally balances out by migrating from the cells in your fruit to the dissolved sugar molecules on the surface, the same way it does with salt.

Sprinkle dried breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or other types of cereal, on the bottom crust before filling and baking in the oven.

Thankfully the science of baking has an easy trick up its sleeve to deal with this, and all it involves is tossing your rhubarb with some sugar. Mixing your fresh fruit with sugar and letting it sit is called maceration, and it helps draw excess liquid out of your rhubarb before it cooks out and leaves your pie soggy.

To overcome the tartness, poach rhubarb in light sugar syrup or stew it with other fruits. You can cook rhubarb in a small amount of water over moderate heat for about 20 minutes or until soft. You will not need to purée it. Cook rhubarb with sugar slowly.

Adding a bit of baking soda to a recipe can help reduce the acidity of your baked rhubarb dish. Rhubarb has versatility for sweet and savoury applications; for instance, it is often part of Iranian and Afghan stews and is used as you would use spinach.

Peeling it seemed to somewhat reduce the bitterness. Rhubarb can be baked into muffins, cakes, squares, even used as a pizza topping. Stewed up with a little sugar (to taste) and water, it can be a topper for ice cream or biscuits, or eaten on its own.

How Do You Neutralize Sour Taste in Food? If a dish is too sour, add a little bit of sugar! Sweetness balances out sour flavors, so if something makes your mouth pucker, a dash of sugar may help soften the blow of the sour food.