Can we have a rhubarb thread? One of my gardeners finally located a strain of rhubarb

Strawberry rhubarb pops, chzcake, jellied squares and hand pies

for pops, chzcake and hand pies
http://www.saveur.com/issues/issue-174?page=1

Missing recipe for jellied squares
Strawberry Rhubarb Pate de Fruit
3/4 cup Demerara sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, scraped and reserved
1 oz Clement Creole Shrubb or Cointreau (astorwines.com)
1 Tbs canola oil, for greasing
12 oz rhubarb, trimmed and roughly chopped
3 cups granulated sugar
7 oz strawberries, hulled
1 1/2 Tbs light corn syrup
2 1/2 Tbs yellow (apple) pectin (lepicerie.com)
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 Heat oven to 200 degrees. Stir Demerara sugar and vanilla seeds in a bowl; sprinkle w/Shrubb and toss to combine. Spread sugar evenly on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet; bake with the oven door ajar until dried, about 30 minutes. Let sugar cool and then crumble.
2 Grease a 9" x 13" parchment paper-lined baking dish with oil; set aside.
3 Cook vanilla bean, rhubarb and 1 cup granulated sugar in a 4-qt saucepan over medium-high until rhubarb has broken down, 8-10 minutes. Let cool and discard vanilla bean; transfer mixture to a blender. Add strawberries and corn syrup and puree until smooth; return mixture to pan and boil. Whisk 3 Tbs granulated sugar and the pectin in a bowl; sprinkle over fruit mixture and stir until sugar has dissolved, 1-2 minutes. Add remaining sugar in 3 batches; cook, stirring well after each addition until sugar has dissolved and mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 175 degrees. Stir in lemon juice and pour mixture into prepared pan; let sit at room temperature until set, about 4 hours.
4 Cut pate de fruit into 1" squares; coat in reserved Demerara-Shrubb sugar. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.

 
I live in . . .

Rancho Cucamonga, CA, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles. I would love to have division, and a description of where the mother and other divisions are growing, like soil, amount of water and *when the plants are watered during the year, and if they go dormant, when they go dormant.

I too had a division some 20 years ago that had come from local plant. The plant had grown for years on the west side (full sun in the afternoon) of a house in Ontario CA. I grew sucessfully on the north side of my house in Ontario for some years. I transplanted to our house in Rancho Cucamonga, in partial shade, on the south side of a cluster of three huge pines of some sort (Tall, narrow growing, like a sugar pine or some-such). It finally expired, but I am not sure if if was too much water or lack of. I think I tried to water it when it wanted to go dormant for the summer and it died from rot--won't do that again.

Thanks!

 
That's not far...

Perhaps you could make the trek to one of our Saturday garden days in Long Beach this fall--or we could meet up some other way, and I'd still be happy to mail you a plant.

This particular plant has narrower stalks and leaves than the ones I've tried from the nursery, and seems to grow just about anywhere. It's fairly prolific so I could give you a few starts and you could try them in several spots.

The gardener who found it is one of my favorites--he has Aspergers and is a bit OCD and he's propagating it like a mad scientist! Too much energy, and soon we will have too much rhubarb.

I've heard all sorts of contradictory things about watering, heat, soil etc. I know it doesn't like our late-summer dry heat. (It prefers Midwestern humid heat and cold winters.) I've also heard what you said, that in warm climates we should let it go dormant in summer by not watering, so maybe that's the case. Also, I don't think it is meant to grow under trees so the competition with tree roots might explain your last plant's sad demise.

You can always contact me through our garden website: LongBeachOrganic.org

 
there are 2 thoughts on the picking method too. I pull it up gently but firmly leaving nothing down

by the dirt line to rot. some people like to cut it a few inches up from the dirt, but I think that makes it more prone to rot.

 
Joe, I'm posting this link to the youtube video on the Long Beach gardens. such a nice little clip.

 
I'm saving my pennies to make the May garden tour next year--I should be retired by then smileys/smile.gif

 
And when you do, I promise to shower, shave and buy a new hat! Geez,

I forgot they were coming that day. I'm not usually vain, but still. I love how they captured our garden activity though. And that's a rhubarb pie I'm holding halfway through.

 
I agree. I also think the base of the stem is the most tender. It's definitely the reddest.

 
It would be nice to pick up some 'barb and see the garden. . .

I could drive to Long Beach and/or husband and I could make a day trip of it (I could twist his arm or promise a burger and a beer!).

Thank you!

 
I thought you looked terrific! we are our own best/worst critics.

makes me smile to watch it because I've been there. it's a happy place. I must take pictures of the community gardens popping up here in Anchorage.

 
I'll try to let you know when we have some starts available, and you can check with me in fall!

 
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