Did you know rhubarb is a vegetable? It’s common to mistake it for a fruit because it’s usually cooked like one in sweet recipes (think rhubarb pies, crumbles and jam).

All about rhubarb

Rhubarb is part of the buckwheat family, which also includes vegetables like sorrel. As a perennial, it can regrow year after year without needing to be replanted.

In Australia, peak rhubarb season is late summer and autumn. You can find it at most supermarkets, but I prefer to buy it from my local farmers market because it’s so much more fresh direct from the grower.

The first thing you’ll notice about rhubarb is its vibrant magenta stalks. They look similar to celery stalks and are the only part of the plant that can be eaten. High concentrations of oxalic acid makes the leaves poisonous, so take care not to cook or eat them. It’s oxalic acid that also gives rhubarb its signature sour flavour.

Cooking with rhubarb

To prepare rhubarb, cut off the leaves and trim the bottom part of the stem if it looks a bit woody. Wash the stalks thoroughly before cooking.

Rhubarb is usually associated with desserts, where it can be paired with fruits like strawberries and apples which balance its tangyness. Not many dessert recipes hero rhubarb’s sour side – a lot of them add considerable amounts of sugar to mask it which I think is a bit of a loss.

It’s my first time cooking with rhubarb and these are the two recipes I tried. Whether it’s your first time using rhubarb and you’re not sure where to start, or you’re looking for a new way to cook with it, the following recipes are great ways to enjoy this tart vegetable in a dessert. The first is an easy, classic crumble and the other is a more technical, show-stopper lattice pie.

Rhubarb Crumble

A crumble is an easy, delicious way to enjoy seasonal ingredients. It’s one of my go-to dessert recipes because you don’t need any fancy ingredients and can make it with just about anything – apples, berries, pear, stone fruit – and rhubarb is no exception.

I used my classic crumble recipe to make this rhubarb and apple crumble, which has that quintessential oaty, biscuit-y topping. I like to add a little bit of apple for texture and to get the right balance of sweet and sour in the filling, but it works well with just rhubarb too.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (fan-forced).
2. Combine apple, caster sugar, cinnamon and 2 tablespoons water in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Cook for 3 minutes until apples have just softened, add rhubarb and flour and cook for a further minute. You don’t want to cook the filling too much because the apple and rhubarb will continue cooking in the oven.
3. Transfer fruit mixture in a 2L baking dish and let cool while you make the crumble topping.
4. Combine butter, flour and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and use your hands or a pastry scraper to rub the butter into the flour and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in rolled oats.
5. Top fruit with oat mixture and bake in oven for 45 minutes or until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden.

Rhubarb and Apple Lattice Pie

If you’re feeling a bit more adventurous, this rhubarb and apple pie is a truly magnificent and beautiful dessert. It takes a little more time than the crumble, but the result is well worth the effort.

I’m a sucker for apple pie, and what’s not to love when you add rhubarb to the filling? I’ve made many pies before but never a lattice-topped one. The name comes from the pattern on top, which has woven strips of pastry with gaps in between so you can get a peek of the filling.

Unlike traditional pies, this one is baked in a tart tin which ensures the bottom has a nice even bake. It has a sour cream pastry, which is very forgiving and sturdy and doesn’t need to be blind baked.

The fruit doesn’t need to be pre-cooked either; it’s macerated overnight and goes straight into the tin for baking. The filling is laced with citrus zest which helps bring out rhubarb’s natural flavours and gives each bite a nice tang.

The trickiest part of this pie is getting the weave right for the lattice topping. I found that starting in the centre and working my way outwards was the easiest.

This is truly a stunner of a dessert. The colours oozing out of the filling are gorgeous and the pie tastes just as good as it looks. A keeper in my books for sure! You can find the original recipe here.

For more seasonal cooking inspiration, check out my other Seasonal Cooking Project posts here.