My parents & grandparents grew rhubarb & I have always loved the sharp taste, especially when tempered with a sweet custard or a dollop of cream. My late father in law always 'forced rhubarb' for a treat at Easter by putting a vintage chimney pot over the crown with hay on top to force it in to early growth. It was a delight with hot custard.
Our own crown is grown in a rather large black pot in the garden & over the winter, I added some of the wood ash from our log burner to the pot, apparently it is something they really like. Truth be told, the wood ash was emptied on a different part of the garden over the winter to spread it out because ash is beneficial to plants in moderate amounts.
Our rhubarb has certainly put on a growth spurt & I decided to pick some today for a Sunday pudding. The leaves are toxic so they were cut off. The stalks were washed well, cut them in to shorter lengths, layered them in to an oven dish. I added about 150g of frozen cranberries to the rhubarb, sprinkled a generous lot of brown sugar on top & mixed the cranberries & rhubarb to mix them up.
All it needed is a crumble topping. Here is a healthier topping , or this one I used previously with more precise measurements. I usually wing mine - about 4 large serving spoons of flour, just less in rolled oats, 1 large sprinkle of desiccated coconut, a sprinkle of brown sugar & about 130g of butter. All were worked in to a large crumbly mixture, & then sprinkled generously over the fruit.
Baked at about 180 fan for 30 minutes, but covered in foil after about 15 min to stop the top browning before the fruit had cooked.
Served hot with a dollop of honey yoghurt. Absolutely scrumptious.
I hope you have something growing that you also enjoy. Thanks for stopping by,
Dee 🪴👩🌾🏡
