Rhubarb — season, tips, and recipes in Australia
Rhubarb is a fruit available in Queensland during July, August, September, October, November, December, peaking in September, October. This page is a practical guide for home cooks: when to buy rhubarb, how to pick a good one, how to store it, what it goes well with, three original recipes, and detailed nutrition information.
Technically a vegetable. One of the first things available in spring, historically important before imported fruit was common.
How to pick a good one
Bright red stalks are sweeter; green ones more tart. Firm and crisp, not floppy. Leaves are toxic.
How to store it
Damp tea towel in fridge for up to a week. Chop and freeze for year-round use.
Goes well with
strawberry: The classic combination. Rhubarb is almost intolerably sour; strawberry's sweetness moderates it. Together they taste like a fruit rather than a vegetable soaked in vinegar.
ginger: Ginger's warmth and rhubarb's cold acidity create a wide flavour spectrum. Used together in compotes and cakes, the combination has more depth than either alone.
orange: Orange's sweetness and aromatic oil in the zest complement rhubarb without simply sweetening it. The combination is subtler than rhubarb and strawberry and more interesting.
custard: Custard's richness and sweetness are the natural foil for rhubarb's sharpness. The contrast between cold sour rhubarb and warm sweet custard is as much about temperature and texture as flavour.
vanilla: Vanilla softens rhubarb's harsh edge and adds warmth to what is otherwise a very cold-tasting ingredient. Most good rhubarb desserts have vanilla somewhere.
Recipes
Rhubarb Crumble
The spring crumble. Serves 4.
Ingredients: 4 stalks rhubarb, 3 tbsp sugar, 80g oats, 60g flour, 60g brown sugar, 50g cold butter
Method: Chop rhubarb into 3cm pieces. Toss with sugar. Put in dish. Rub oats, flour, sugar, butter until crumbly. Top. Bake 180C for 30 min.
Stewed Rhubarb
On porridge, yoghurt, ice cream.
Ingredients: 4 stalks rhubarb, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 strip orange peel, splash water
Method: Chop rhubarb. Simmer with sugar, orange peel, and a splash of water for 8 min until soft but not mush. Cool.
Rhubarb & Custard Tart
Worth the effort.
Ingredients: 1 sheet puff pastry, 4 stalks rhubarb, 3 tbsp sugar, 250ml custard (bought is fine), 1 egg
Method: Line a tart tin with pastry. Spread custard in base. Arrange chopped rhubarb on top. Sprinkle sugar. Bake 190C for 30 min until pastry is golden and rhubarb is soft.
Nutrition
One cup of raw rhubarb provides 45% of your daily vitamin K and 15% of your vitamin C. Good source of calcium (unusual for a fruit/vegetable). Very low calorie at only 26 calories per cup. The tartness comes from oxalic acid, which is why the leaves (very high in oxalic acid) are toxic but the stalks are safe.