Bottling Rhubarb

[ChrisGreaves]

By now everyone else is looking out the window staring at their rhubarb Gone To Seed.

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Here at the end of the earth I have today harvested my first few stalks of the year. They are bigger (length and width) than any I harvested last year, which is a good sign. My goal is to populate the west side of the house with rhubarb, which will benefit from the rain that tumbles off the roof (no eaves-troughs!).

My main source of rhubarb comes in a pickup truck along with grass clippings, so last July I washed the stalks, diced them into one-inch chunks, and pressed them into quart jars, and boiled them for an hour in my tub.

End result: half a dozen quart jars, each with about 50% rhubarb flesh and 50% rhubarb juice.

Sigh!

I repacked the jars by draining off the juice and cramming flesh in, making just three quart jars, but at least they were full of flesh.

I used a tablespoon of bottled rhubarb flesh in my porridge bowl, ladling pre-cooked porridge on the top, and finished my last jar of rhubarb about a month ago. Very tasty and throughout the winter this kept my hopes and dreams alive.
I shall bottle again this year, especially the delivered rhubarb, but I plan to use my fresh crop as a serious treat of fresh fruit. Maybe even get into (or more correctly, get into me) rhubarb pie!

Cheers
Chris

[Graeme]

Before we moved to our present house I had an allotment for a couple of years and the previous tenant left a clump of rhubarb. It was lovely! We had it with ice cream and the missus knocked up some rhubarb and apple crumble a couple of times.

Preserving for adding to porridge is a great idea.

Regards

Graeme

[ChrisGreaves]

Before we moved to our present house I had an allotment for a couple of years and the previous tenant left a clump of rhubarb. It was lovely! We had it with ice cream and the missus knocked up some rhubarb and apple crumble a couple of times. Preserving for adding to porridge is a great idea.

Thanks Graeme.

I learned the other day that I can drink the juice I collected.
I was wondering what to do with it ...
I might cut it 50-50 with my home-made ginger beer.

(later) not bad.
Since rhubarb juice is acidic I suppose too that i could use it to marinatye meat, such as pork steaks.

Cheers
Chris