Rhubarb: A trip down memory lane

For those of you that don't know, I will be writing the "What's in Season" column in the Times Recorder this summer.  It is supposed to come out on Thursdays so the first one should be in today's paper (which I haven't seen yet.)  I'm a little worried about what the TR may do when they "edit" what I send them--you never know with the paper.  So, for those of you who don't get the paper, here is my article.  I plan to post them for you every week.

Rhubarb:  A trip down Memory Lane

                This Saturday, April 30^th, is opening day of the 2011 Farmers’ Market season at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds.  The hours are 9:00am-12:00pm and it will run every Saturday until the end of October.  This year I’m excited to be able to write each week about “What’s in Season,” fresh and available for you to purchase from our local vendors. 

Now is the time to think of your gardens and what you want to plant.  There will be many vendors offering a wide variety of flowers, both annuals and perennials.  They will be glad to offer advice on what will work best for your flower beds or planters.  There will also be a large selection of vegetable plants available for purchase.  I think it’s great that a lot of the shoppers at our market do plant some vegetables of their own, be it in pots or gardens, then come to market to supplement what they are growing themselves.  If you don’t have space or time for vegetable plants, I would encourage you to at least get your feet wet with some pots of herbs.   As the season progresses I hope to feature plenty of recipes that highlight fresh herbs in addition to fruits and vegetables.

If some of the farmers were able to get in their fields before all this rain hit there may be a selection of early vegetables this first week such as radishes and greens.  The asparagus is just starting to pop, so there may be a little bit of it for sale if we are lucky.  One old-fashioned standard that we can find in these first few weeks is rhubarb. 

Rhubarb seems to be one of those vegetables that creates conversations starting with “I remember when Grandma used to make. . .” or “I haven’t had a rhubarb pie in years. . .”  My mom’s good friend, Carol, has been talking for quite a while about her childhood memory of the “rhubarb-currant-custard pie” that her grandmother made.  Currants are one of those old-fashioned fruits that most people don’t grow anymore and are nearly impossible to buy, so she ordered a couple of bushes and planted them a month or so ago.  In a couple of years they will produce berries so that we can try to re-create her grandmother’s pie.  Let’s hope this pie is as good as her memory seems to think it is!  I have an early childhood memory of my aunt Theresa, who has always loved rhubarb, cutting a stalk from her dad’s garden and letting me taste it raw.  The sour pucker it produced makes me understand why pretty much every rhubarb recipe you can find contains some amount of sugar. 

Last year I bought a cookbook called “The Joy of Rhubarb” by Theresa Millang, which is filled with every rhubarb recipe you can think of—most of them desserts—cobblers, crisps, cakes, cookies, pies, jams, and so on.  I wanted to find a non-dessert rhubarb recipe (and trust me, that’s hard), but my book did have few.  This one was perfect since I had a little spinach out in the garden that was ready to harvest.  We really enjoyed this simple, healthy salad. 

Rhubarb Spinach Salad

4 stalks fresh rhubarb, cut into thin slices

¼ c. sugar

2 Tablespoons red-wine vinegar

Salt and Pepper to taste

6 Tablespoons olive oil

4 c. fresh spinach leaves

Put the rhubarb in a saucepan, sprinkle with sugar, and cover with 1 inch of water.  Bring to a boil and boil uncovered 2 min.  Remove from heat, drain rhubarb and reserve liquid.  Place liquid back in saucepan.  Stir in vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Cook uncovered over high heat until reduced to ½ cup.  Remove from heat; whisk in olive oil.  Place spinach on 4 salad plates; top with rhubarb and top with the warm salad dressing.

            If you have recipes to share or questions, feel free to contact me at curlygirlfarm@gmail.com or come talk to me in person on Saturdays at the fairgrounds.

Here are pictures of the salad.  We ate them with pork chops and mashed potatoes.  Yummy!