THE KITCHN: Don't let the rhubarb party end
As I was spooning my way through a bowl of strawberry-rhubarb ice cream last weekend, I got to thinking. Strawberry and rhubarb are old pals, of course, and rhubarb is definitely great all on its own -- but there are so many late-summer fruits that totally miss out on the rhubarb party! Rhubarb-peach? Blackberry-rhubarb? I want these combos in my pie!
The rhubarb season varies somewhat according to region and other factors. In some parts of the country, stalks are ripe and alluring well into August, although the conventional wisdom warns against harvesting them after the first few weeks of July.
If you want to sustain your rhubarb fix throughout the summer, the best solution is to start freezing.
Rhubarb freezes like a dream, but gets mushy once thawed. For this reason, I cut it into pieces sized for the future dish I will be making -- a few cups of small-diced rhubarb for muffins, a separate container of roughly chopped rhubarb for pie, and so on.
Freeze the sliced rhubarb in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once the rhubarb is solid, lift the parchment by the edges and funnel the rhubarb into freezer containers. I am a forgetful freezer, so I label each container with the contents, amount, and intended dish: "2 cups rhubarb for muffins/scones."
The frozen rhubarb can be added directly to baked goods and pies while still frozen and is all the better for it. After baking, those bits of rhubarb turn into the most amazing jammy pockets. Perfect.
(Emma Christensen is recipe editor for TheKitchn.com, a nationally known blog for people who love food and home cooking. Submit any comments or questions to kitchn@apartmenttherapy.com.)
