From Tart to Tasty: discovering rhubarb

Adventures in Produce: discovering rhubarb, from tart to tasty

Rhubarb, frozen slices and fresh stalks



My produce roots stem from a humble home where there is an abundance of fresh fruits and veggies grown in our yard each season. Growing up in this fashion, made the task of finding an unfamiliar produce very difficult. Scrolling down a list online of exotic fruits and veggies, I heard myself saying “yep, tried it, had it juiced, I pricked myself on that one, eww gross, ooh that’s good” and stories that began with “once when I was younger…” Identifying said fruit or vegetable was an adventure all its own.  Eventually, I came across five unfamiliar produce, rhubarb being one of them.  

Our recipe, rendered from Cooks.com

Rhubarb, I’d heard of on a couple cooking shows, but I never considered  using the product as it sounded gross, like a sprout or root that I sparingly eat. Still, I set out on this adventure with nothing to lose, and only new experiences to gain. I stopped by Central Market, known for its organic produce and specialty foods in hopes of finding something new down their produce aisles to avoid this rhubarb. Unfortunately, I found a vast variety of familiar produce, and meandered through the store, stopping in their frozen section to find sliced rhubarb. I was shocked to see it sliced and frozen amidst peaches and mango; intrigued, I bought the bag hoping to find the fresh produce elsewhere.

I researched the area and asked friends and family about rhubarb, no one had heard of it, and so my Google search began. My boyfriend and I came across several recipes that treated rhubarb like fruit. We found recipes for pies, cobbler, compote or jam, but no recipe rendering it like the vegetable it looks like. Rhubarb is classified as a vegetable, and used as a fruit; payback, one person noted, for the tomato being considered a fruit. The contradiction kept me curious about how our recipe would taste. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

 Rhubarb strawberry crisp is what we made, which incorporated the last of the strawberries in season, and the rhubarb in its peak season—perfection, I thought: creating a spring-meets-summer fusion of new flavors with a familiar strawberry sweetness.

 Fresh rhubarb, which I later found at HEB, is red, almost crimson in color, and shaped like a celery stalk: long, firm and rubbery. Preparing it, the fresh rhubarb smelled mildly sweet and cut like celery. Inside, the stalk is plum-colored and smells sweeter, but tastes more subtle in flavor, with a cold, wet tartness and chews like a red grape, or plum peel.

The frozen slices are extremely aromatic with a sharp citrus scent. They taste tart, lemony, and pack a sour apple punch that made my lips pucker and mouth tingle, leaving somewhat of a gingery aftertaste as it defrosted in my mouth.  

I used both fresh and frozen rhubarb in the crisp along with fresh strawberries, which looked and smelled amazing. I cheated on the first cut of crisp licking a bit of the spatula: the tang lit up my taste buds with an explosion of bold flavor. It had cranberry-like tartness, balanced with the sweet chunks of strawberries, oat and brown sugar, satisfying the palate with a contrast in texture of gooey baked fruit and crumbly sugar oats. This treat was incredibly satisfying. I paired it with vanilla ice cream for the perfect summer dessert that was simple to make and surprisingly delightful. Rhubarb, I found to be tarty perfection cooked in this dish. It joins my list of tried and conquered produce paring well with familiar, sweet flavors and comfort foods.  

Sweet+tangy=Suprisingly delightful