Grow Your Own Magazine

I have tonnes of Rhubarb and can't keep eating whips and crumbles! Does anyone know if you can make a cordial or wine and where I could get a some recipes?

Thanks

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Always aim for the best result possible not the best possible result

Peanut aka Joanna

Copied from a brewing forum I am a member of:

Rhubarb recipe...courtesy of Jack Keller

Rhubarb Wine
6-7 lbs red rhubarb
2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
2 large lemons (juice only)
water to make up one gallon
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 oz precipitated chalk
1-1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
Sauterne wine yeast
Wash the rhubarb and cut into 1/2-inch lengths. Crush with a piece of sterilized hardwood (the end of a baseball bat is perfect) and put into primary. Dissolve crushed Campden tablet in gallon of cold water and pour over rhubarb. Cover primary and let set for three days, stirring daily. Strain through a nylon straining bag and squeeze as much liquid as possible from the pulp. Discard pulp and return liquor to primary. Add the precipitated chalk (obtainable at winemaking shop). The liquor will fizz, but then settle down. Wait 3 hours and taste. If oxalic acid taste is still too strong, add another 1/2 oz of precipitated chalk. Stir in all remaining ingredients, making sure the sugar dissolves completely. (NOTE: You may want to hold back one pound of the sugar and add it after fermentation is well on its way.) Cover and set aside overnight. Transfer to secondary and fit airlock, but to allow for foaming during fermentation hold back a pint or so in a small bottle plugged with cotton. When ferment settles down (5-7 days), top up with reserved liquor and refit airlock. Set aside in cool place until wine begins to clear. Rack, refit airlock and top up. Allow at least another two months, making sure fermentation has ceased, and rack again. If possible, cold stabilize wine for 30 days. If you can't cold stabilize, at least allow the wine the additional 30 days. Rack into bottles or blend with another wine.

If you bottle the rhubarb wine pure, it is drinkable right away. If you blend it, age it according to instructions for the wine you are blending with. If you make a 3-5-gallon batch, add 1/8 tsp tannin per gallon when you add the other dry ingredients to extend the life of the wine.

Enjoy. If you rather, I am open to receiving large quantities of rhubarb by post - my plants are in their first year and are not producing enough to eat yet

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Not made any myself, but found this rhubarb website! Don't know if its helpful or not, I know ideally you want a tried recipe...
http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipe-wine.html

I always put a tin of strawberries in with my stewing rhubarb and strain the juice off before making crumbles and pies. Left overnight in the fridge, it is a lovely fruit drink the following morning and even nicer at dinner time with carbonated water (50:50).

Peanut - You could always make rhubarb schnapps which many of us made last year. Just search on "schapps" and you should be able to pick up the thread. It was loverly .......

Thanks very much for all your replies.

__________________
Always aim for the best result possible not the best possible result

Peanut aka Joanna

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/ check this web site out. It has loads of info regarding rhubarb

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

Could you make a rhubarb merangue type pie?
How????

would you be thinking of similar to lemon merangue??? why not

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

yes exactly!....what do you think?
I would make a kind of thick rhubarb puree.

You could experiment with rhubarb and orange, and use a biscuit base like a cheesecake instead of pastry. That sounds great

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

Just had another thought...how about cooking the rhubarb in ginger cordial before making it into puree...another thought is to use crushed ginger biscuits as the base mixed with melted butter. Rhubarb and ginger go well together.

__________________
Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

Mummy in law made rhubarb triffle at the weekend....
sounds lovley, she use cooked rhubarb, sponge, custard and cream
hmmmmm yummy!

Rhubarb cordial= 2lbs red rhubarb 1/4 oz root ginger 4ozs sugar 2 cloves 2 pints water. Chop the rhubarb coarsley and put into saucepan with sugar,cloves and bruised ginger.Cover with the water,bring slowly to the boil and simmer until rhubarb is tender.Strain off the liquid[discard the fruit pulp for cooking purposes] and leave to cool.Can be taken diluted or undiluted.