Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb...

Does anyone know what to do with rhubarb? I only ask, because I now have a vegie garden full of the stuff and the only place I know to put rhubarb is in a crumble. The Builder loves a rhubarb crumble, but at the rate it’s growing, he will be eating it every day and then some. Mind you, given that Scottish researchers have discovered that baking rhubarb for 20 minutes enhances its cancer-fighting properties, perhaps we should all be eating a crumble a day…

But I digress.

It’s not something I would have chosen to plant myself. Why, then, do I have a garden full of it? I’m glad you asked.

My friend S rolled up the driveway a few weeks ago in her Kombi and proceeded to unload three large rhubarb plants. Seems she’d been talking to a mutual friend about rhubarb and promised her some plants. The very next day, she’d turned up with them, only to find the mutual friend had been out that morning and bought her own supply.

Her loss was my gain.

While I was dithering about, wondering what to do with said plants, S requested a shovel and had them in and watered before I’d put the kettle on.

They look lovely in the garden. The stalks are red, the leaves dark green. Christmas in February.

Now I just have to work out what to do with them.

The good news is that whilst I was lurking about the exhibitions hall at the local Agricultural Show on the weekend, I noticed an Apple & Rhubarb chutney with a blue ribbon on it. So things can be done with it. Prize-winning things at that.

I was inspired by the Exhibitions hall. It’s a heart-warming place to be. It’s also hotly contested. There’s one lady in town who wins or places in nearly every cooking category. She’s a local legend, and I salute her. But it’s not just the cakes that are fabulous. The pumpkins are huge, the dahlias majestic, the Arrangement For a BBQ Table category perplexing.

The winner in the ‘Relishes, Pickles, Chutneys, any other kind’ category: Apple & Rhubarb Chutney.

If there’s one thing I have, it’s rhubarb.

I could be a contender.

Watch this space in 2011.

1 comment:

  1. Oh sweet Al, had I only known you & your lovely blog back when you first write this!

    I have a green fingered bloke whose compist heaps are surrounded by rhubard.

    I have a stack of recipes.

    From memory I put a call out for recipes on Farcebook a couple of years ago and got swamped!

    ReplyDelete

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