Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook's Guide entry for Rhubarb along with all the Rhubarb containing recipes presented on this site, with 41 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Rhubarb recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Rhubarb as a major wild food ingredient.

Biologically, Rhubarb represents a group of plants that belong to the genus Rheum in the Polygonaceae (knotweed/smartweed) family. They are herbaceous perennial plants growing from short, thick rhizomes the stems are stout and fleshy and bear large leaves that are somewhat triangular, with long fleshy petioles. The flowers are borne on a central spike and are grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.

Rhubarb originated in Asia and has been used as a medicinal plant in China for at least 5000 years. Biologically, rhubarb stems are a vegetable, but as they are typically cooked with sugar to make preserves and desserts are often considered to be a fruit. Garden rhubarb is derived from Rheum rhabarbarum, but most plants are hybrids, Rheum x hybridum selectively bread for various characteristics (Sweeter stems, stouter stems, pink-fleshed stems).

It is well known that the leaves are toxic to humans. This is due to the presence of high concentrations of oxalic acid in them, along with an additional, unidentified toxin, which might be an anthraquinone glycoside (also known as senna glycosides). The stems (biologically, petioles) contain much lower levels of oxalic acid (only about 2–2.5% of the total acidity, which is dominated by malic acid). This means that the raw stems are actually safe to eat. Personally I like them, but they are too tart for many people.

Rhubarb is grown primarily for its fleshy stalks, technically known as petioles. The use of rhubarb stems as food is a relatively recent innovation, first recorded in 17th century England, after affordable sugar became available to common people, and reaching a peak between the 20th century's two world wars. Rhubarb is available all year round in warm climates, but in temperate climates it is frost-tender and the above-ground portions whither away with the onset of freezing weather. However, rhubarb begins to sprout very early and, in temperate climates, it is one of the first vegetables to be available in spring.

In Britain, the practice of 'forcing' rhubarb, by uprooting the plant and growing in darkened and heated sheds in early spring yields the first crops. This is typically done in the region of Yorkshire, bounded by Wakefield, Leeds and Morley, the 'rhubarb triangle'.

Rhubarb has been used for medical purposes by the Chinese for thousands of years, and appears in The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic, which legend attributes to the mythical Shen Nung, the Yan Emperor, but is thought to have been compiled about 2700 years ago. Though Dioscurides' description of ρηον or ρά, a root brought to Greece from beyond the Bosphorus may have included rhubarb, the commerce did not become securely established until Islamic times, when it was imported along the Silk Road, reaching Europe in the 14th century through the ports of Aleppo and Smyrna, and becoming known as "Turkish rhubarb". Later, when the usual route lay through Russia, "Russian rhubarb" became the familiar term.

The term "rhubarb" is a combination of the Ancient Greek rha and barbarum; rha refers both to the plant and to the River Volga.

Rhubarb is one of my favourite vegetables and I am always on the lookout for new recipes. I am also well aware that it is a vegetable and not a fruit. So, you will see the usual rhubarb pies, compotes, preserves and cakes here. But I also use it as a vegetable. So you will see it cooked in stews (it goes very well with pork and mackerel) or made into chutneys and relishes. So, why not have a go at some of these recipes to expand your rhubarb repertoire today.