What to do with rhubarb?
Our children even enjoy munching on the sour stalks.
If you’re like me, you grew up knowing only one use for rhubarb - strawberry rhubarb pie. With an overabundance of rhubarb most years, I have explored many other options for rhubarb.
Feast or famine
Since my dad accidentally tilled up the rhubarb on a regular basis, we rarely had rhubarb growing up. Then when I purchased my first house, the rhubarb stalks were very tiny and tedious to pick, wash, and chop. I questioned if it was worth the effort.
But this is no longer the case. Our rhubarb is the most robust plant, bearing large thick stalks. A few years ago, we moved our plants in the fall and decided it wasn’t a good spot and moved them again in the spring and STILL had plenty of rhubarb to harvest that year!
I should not be surprised since we received our rhubarb from my husband’s parents. Their plants were too big, so they even dug it up and threw it in the woods. And guess what? They not only survived, but they thrived! When we visited two summers later, they were the biggest rhubarb plants I have ever seen, looking more like something you’d see in the Amazon Jungle. We picked and picked and since we had no use for it, we canned it. It took us years before we consumed it all!
Here’s tips on harvesting rhubarb.
Our rhubarb plants are indestructible, even when our kids decimate them!
Things to do with rhubarb - Forest Gump style
Since our family tries to limit sugar intake, we’ve gotten creative to eat rhubarb…especially since we pile bag after bag of rhubarb in the freezer each year.
We’ve tried to dream up every way to make rhubarb, just like Forest Gump says:
Anyway, like I was sayin', rhubarb is the fruit that keeps on giving. You can roast it, boil it, can it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb smoothies, rhubarb oatmeal, rhubarb pancakes, rhubarb sauce for your pancakes, even rhubarb ketchup. That-that's about it.
Yes, rhubarb ketchup
We went so far as to make rhubarb ketchup - which we call “rhu-up”. Although it’s not exactly our favorite, it is a conversation piece for years! I mainly use it in place of chutney for roasts or for a sauce on a hot pork or roast beef sandwich since onion is the dominating flavor.
Our go-tos
Our go-tos have been rhubarb oatmeal and rhubarb pancakes. My rhubarb oatmeal recipe is pretty basic and only takes a few extra minutes to make. I can sweeten the sauce without adding sugar by adding pureed frozen strawberries. Unfortunately, we ran out of frozen strawberries, so now I have to add a little sugar (my husband says it’s a lot) to my oatmeal, but the rest of my family just sprinkles in some blueberries to sweeten it.
Batter (left), pancakes on the griddle (back center), cooked rhubarb (right) and cooked pancakes (front center) - yum!
My rhubarb pancakes recipe is also pretty basic. You can essentially pick your favorite pancake recipe and add rhubarb (I’ve even added raw thawed frozen rhubarb in a time crunch before). I don’t add any sugar to my recipe below and local maple syrup is enough for our family to sweeten our pancakes.
You can also make rhubarb sauce to top the pancakes - maple syrup complements this well! But I’d advise topping regular pancakes as a double dose of rhubarb may be a little much!
And for a delicious dessert that usually disappears as soon as it’s out of the oven is strawberry rhubarb crisp bars.
When we can’t get enough rhubarb is our pancakes, we can always add a side of raw rhubarb!
Rhubarb Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 T baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
3 T vegetable oil
2 cups milk
1 cup diced rhubarb (fresh or thawed frozen rhubarb)
Directions
Cook the rhubarb in a saucepan for 5 minutes. If using fresh rhubarb, add a little water.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients including the cooked rhubarb.
Pour batter onto a greased griddle.
Flip pancakes once golden on one side.
Remove pancakes from the griddle once the second side is golden and enjoy!
Yield: 24 pancakes
More recipes
If you liked being adventurous with your pancakes, then check out some more of our family’s favorite pancake recipes: