How to Harvest and Prepare Rhubarb for Cooking, Baking, and Freezing

Rhubarb is an easily established plant which can be used in pies, jams, crisps, breads, and other desserts. It can also be added to lemonades and punches.

Rhubarb's taste is tart and acidic, which some find to be overwhelming, and others find to be delightful. I am a firm believer that everyone should try a rhubarb pie at least once.

As children, my cousins and siblings and I spent many sunny afternoons wandering over my grandma's farmyard, chomping stalks of raw rhubarb, which grew in profusion both along the garden fence and down by the grain bins. We girls held the large leaves above us and pretended they were parasols. We minced along like fine ladies. But Grandma warned us strictly never to eat the leaves: "They're poisonous!"

As an adult, I found out that the whole plant is mildly toxic when eaten raw - including the stalks. But obviously the stalks are not poisonous enough to do great damage. The leaves, which seem to have greater toxicity, should always be discarded. Do not compost them - their toxins will not be destroyed by the composting process, and may do damage when used in the garden.

So only the stalks are used in cooking and baking. I'll show you how to prepare them, for either fresh use or preservation by canning, freezing, or drying.

Rhubarb is simple to harvest. It is most available in the spring and early summer, when the weather is cool and a bit damp. After the weather heats up, rhubarb loses its savor, and becomes a bit unpleasant and lifeless.

Select stalks at least a 1/2" across, and, grasping them near the soil, tug and twist them out of the root base. They should come out all in one piece.

Because the leaves are so bulky, you may wish to snap or cut them off before taking your stalks into the house to wash them. Discard the leaves where they will not be eaten by animals or children.

It can be tricky to judge exactly how much rhubarb you need for a recipe. The stalk diameter, length, and quality can vary considerably. On average, though, 1 pound of rhubarb stalks will yeild 3 cups of chopped rhubarb.

If you wish to freeze your chopped rhubarb, all you need to do is fill sacks, label them clearly, and find freezer room for them.

However, there are other options. You may can your rhubarb, or dry it. I'll show you how to preserve rhubarb in these ways in future articles.