I once had a woman tell me on Twitter that we should grow more fruits and vegetables in North Dakota and less wheat and corn. I reassured her if she could come from California to North Dakota to teach us how I would be game to learn. But honestly the only plant that I consider a fruit that grows for me in North Dakota is rhubarb. Yes, rhubarb. Do you have some around your house? It’s a plant that grows abundantly on the North Dakota prairie from spring until fall.
Because of its ease to grow, rhubarb is a staple in summer prairie cooking. My friend, Kari, brought me over the last of her rhubarb to share with us. In return, I gave her plenty of tomatoes from our garden. The girls and I promptly went inside and pulled out the “Ritzy Rhubarb” cookbook to decide what new recipe we could try with the rhubarb. We ended up back at my favorite stand-by rhubarb recipe that I was raised on by my Grandma Nola and mom, Rhubarb Sauce. We eat it plain, or with cream or milk on it. We eat it on ice cream, on pancakes and anything we can think that needs a little summer sweetening.
The best part of rhubarb sauce? It’s really easy to make.
For this batch we used:
8 cups of rhubarb, cut-up
3 cups sugar (you can sweetened to taste…I could definitely go with less sugar and don’t mind tartness)
10 oz. sweetened frozen strawberries (fresh would work too)
16 oz. frozen blueberries (a combination of berries or canned pineapple has worked for me before)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4 TBSP corn starch
You are gathering by now…rhubarb is a big deal on the prairie and the ladies of Litchville, North Dakota have an entire cookbook dedicated to all things rhubarb. I meld recipes together and didn’t follow one for this rhubarb sauce recipe. But I highly recommend tracking down a copy of this cookbook and having it in your cookbook collection. Or maybe by next season’s crop of rhubarb I’ll have an extra one to give you.
Ready to quickly make rhubarb sauce before summer ends? Here are 5 easy steps:
1. Cut and chop your rhubarb
2. Mix everything but the rhubarb, then bring to a boil, while stirring. (Mix the corn starch into the 1/2 cup cold water before adding.)
The ginger was a new ingredient we added to this batch instead of usual apple pie spice or cinnamon. I loved the ginger and will keep it always in our rhubarb sauce.
3. When the sugar is dissolved, add rhubarb. Bring to a boil, stirring and turn heat down to simmer.
4. Simmer for 25 minutes. The slowing cooking produces the best sauce I think versus many recipes that call for a shorter simmer.
5. You can serve the rhubarb sauce either warm or cold but Miss E, age 3, highly recommends that however you serve it that you wear a pink flower in your hair. We enjoyed this rhubarb sauce first over ice cream and the leftovers as dessert and snacks over the next couple days.
Do you grow rhubarb or have a favorite rhubarb recipe?
Hi-
Thank you so much for coming by my blog.
For years I didn’t want my husband’s deer heads in the house- and they weren’t.
Then one day I just let it go.
Go figure-
Laura
White Spray Paint
never thought of putting other fruit with it. I just make it straight rhubarb, sugar and water; like applesauce.