Getting Out of a Rhubarb Rut: Sweet and Savory Ideas for Using Up Those Sour Stalks

Up to your eyes in rhubarb? Try these ideas. Diana Taliun/Shutterstock

There are those seasonal garden foods that come at you all of a sudden, and then you’re faced with a mountain of something raising fruit flies on your counter or still in the dirt contemplating its future as compost. This time of year, we’re looking at you, rhubarb people!

I shared my recipe for rhubarb jam last season, and a reader suggested saving your rhubarb until the mulberries are ready and then combining the two for jam. Is there an overlap between people growing rhubarb and those with mulberry trees? Seems likely.

If you have so much rhubarb you’re eating it daily (not a problem for some), you could clean and chop it up for the freezer. Measure it out into freezer bags, and then to get the air out, try this trick: Seal the bags until only an inch is open, and holding that open corner, submerge the bags in water up to that point—the water pressure will push out the air. Then, you can pinch the seal shut completely.

But before you start stockpiling in the freezer, consider these rhubarb alternatives.

Rhubarb Compote

Start with 4 cups of chopped rhubarb and 1/4 cup of sugar. Cook that down for about 5 minutes, so it is thickened but still has bits of soft rhubarb. You can make it sweeter if you want—something more jam-like for your pancakes, scones, yogurt, oatmeal, or toast. Try adding lemon peel, a touch of ginger, 1 to 2 tablespoons of orange juice, or even 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. This keeps for two weeks sealed in the fridge, or you can process it like freezer jam for longer periods.

Rhubarb Glaze/Sauce

In a saucepan, sauté chopped rhubarb with diced onion and garlic, perhaps some paprika, and work in equal parts soy sauce and honey, stretching it with water or thickening it with a spoonful of cornstarch. You can brush this on baked chicken when it is almost finished or when serving. Make it a bit on the sweeter side and use it on top of baked ham instead of plum sauce, or over fried pork chops.

Quick-Pickled Rhubarb

Take a pound of rhubarb, cube it or cut it into 3/4-inch pieces at an angle, and pack them into a sanitized jar or jars. In a pot, mix together 2 cups cider vinegar or red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons salt, and bring that to a boil. Pour that into the jars, enough to cover the rhubarb. At this stage, you can also add seasonings: a few cloves, slices of ginger, peppercorns, thinly sliced shallots. Let it cool and keep the pickles sealed in the fridge up to two weeks. Use them on salads or as a relish for tacos.

Rhubarb Wine

Got sugar? Then you’ve got fermentables. I have a collection of my great-grandmother’s wine recipes, made with everything from dandelion to tomato, and sure enough, rhubarb.

“Wash and cut rhubarb in 1-inch lengths. Do not skin. [For] every quart of rhubarb, [use] 1 pound sugar and 1 quart boiling water. Pour boiling water over rhubarb. Let stand 24 hours. Strain in clean towel, pressing with large spoon to get all the juice.

“Add sugar and 2 handfuls of washed raisins to the liquid. Stir and add one-half cake (2-ounce cake broken in two) of yeast. Allow to stand in covered crock (cover with a clean cloth) for a month. Skim and bottle. Put cork on lightly as [the yeast] may not be through working.”

That’s Depression Era stuff right there. You may want to stick with the jam.

Rhubarb Crisp

Crisps are less work than pie, but no less delicious. Some will cut this recipe (and other rhubarb dishes) with strawberries (half of each), but for me, I like the full flavor of rhubarb.

Leave out the strawberries in this full-flavored rhubarb crisp.MariaKovaleva/Shutterstock

RECIPE: Rhubarb Crisp

Serves 6

For the Filling

• 6 cups chopped rhubarb (1/2-inch-long pieces)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Topping

• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup rolled oats (not instant)
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Make the filling: Clean the rhubarb and cut into 1/2-inch-long pieces. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, then stir in all the rhubarb pieces. Put this into an 8-by-8-inch Pyrex baking dish.

Make the topping: Mix the flour with the oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon, then work in the softened butter. Lay this evenly over the rhubarb mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven until the top starts to crisp up, about 35 minutes. Let it cool before serving with ice cream.