Health + Wellness

Something Delish: Rhubarb!

 

MNU-ICONS-HEALTH

 

We like to turn you on to things you might not have considered previously. Our Food Editor Christine is back with a delicious alternative to the same-old breakfast, rhubarb!   😆

 

christine

You know those early Spring days that are full of soft sweet sunshine, when the green golden edges of new leaves are starting to catch the light, but there is still that little bite, that little edge of cold that nips at the edges, the kind of days when you don’t HAVE to have a light sweater but it’s nice to have a light sweater?

Rhubarb is the fruit equivalent of those kinds of days. Cooked with a little sugar, it’s is meltingly sweet and tender with that coral stained glass colored juice, but with a little tangy bite that makes your sleepy taste buds wake up and say “Wow, Spring is here!”

Rhubarb is traditionally cooked with strawberries to make pies, so much so that it is often called “pie plant,” but the simplest way I know to cook rhubarb is also one of my favorites: cooked with just enough raw sugar to take a little edge off the tartness and make a lovely syrup, roasted until just tender. There is nothing nicer than this rhubarb stirred into a cup of creamy vanilla yogurt with some crunchy granola to start the morning.

Rhubarb is high in the powerful antioxidant vitamin C and a good source of fiber. It contains oxalic acid (more so in the leaves which are usually trimmed before sale) so it needs to be cooked before being consumed.

Grab a few of these rosy lipstick-colored stalks next time you’re at the farmers market, give the ends a quick trim, slice them, toss them with some raw sugar, and into a low oven; it’s that simple and it’s so, so good.

 

Roasted Rhubarb

 

Recipe

 

Preheat the oven to 300F

Yield: about 1 cup

¼ cup raw sugar

4 cups rhubarb (16- 20 ounces) sliced into 1 inch pieces.

 

rhubarbsugar
Toss the rhubarb and sugar together in an oven safe dish.

rhubarbroasted

Roast in a low oven for 30 minutes or until the rhubarb is very tender but still hold its shape.

Cool and then refrigerate with all of the syrup for up to a week. 

Rhubarbyogurt

Be sure to check out Christine’s blog at www.cognitiveleeks.wordpress.com.