Rhubarb Springs into the Kitchen

If you’re a gardener you’ll know the answer to this question:  “What’s the first delicious crop you can harvest from your garden?" It’s rhubarb, one of the earliest plants to come up in the spring. Huge shiny green leaves grow on red stems. Even if you don’t like its taste, the plant itself is a lovely accent in any garden.

Growing rhubarb is dirt simple. If you have a friend with a rhubarb patch, ask her/him to give you a piece of root stock. Now is as good a time as any to divide rhubarb. Get a sharp spade, clear away the soil from the base of the plant and slice off a chunk of the root. You can also buy rhubarb roots online. Plant your piece of root in well-turned soil in a reasonably sunny location – mine grows quite happily in a spot that only gets afternoon sun. Make sure your rhubarb has room to spread. Once it gets going it has a tendency to take over.

Wait until the second year of growth to harvest your rhubarb stalks. Pick them when they’re about an inch thick – any thicker and they’ll be tough and stringy. If your plant starts flowering, pinch off the flower to encourage more leaf stalks. Rhubarb freezes really well. Pick stems as they get to the right size, slice into two-inch chunks and freeze in a Ziploc bag. Your rhubarb will be ready to use when the strawberries come into season in June.

The one caveat with rhubarb is DO NOT EAT THE LEAVES. They're full of oxalic acid, which is poisonous.

What do you think of rhubarb? Love it? Hate it? Let me know at fpearson@mainstreetconnect.us.

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