It seems we have set aside much in this season of Covid.

Sometimes, we forget what it is we even have. In my case, it’s my chest freezer. Spring is the time to clean it out, before the next harvest comes in.

Rhubarb — crisp red stalks of rhubarb were chopped, blanched and frozen last spring — and I just found my stash there in the frozen depths.

Whether or not you like it, you’ve eaten it some time or another I’m sure. 

It seems that this is the time of year when we all try and do something new, something different with this—what is it a vegetable or a fruit?—who knows?

The point is, we’re all trying to find another way to sweeten the taste of this popular food. Now, I have seen some people eat the bare stalks, but I can’t say they are my personal friends. Who knows what a person is capable of, it they can do that?

 No, the way to make rhubarb taste good is to add lots of sugar or a sweeter fruit to it. I prefer the later. Whenever I try a new rhubarb recipe, I tend to automatically cut back on the sugar, since I find many of them way too sweet. 

There’s your warning—don’t cut back on the sweetener in these recipes since I already did that. Also, be careful how you discard the trimmed rhubarb leaves, once you harvest the fresh plant, because they are poisonous to animals. Best to compost them. 

     So, what do you do with frozen rhubarb?  The same thing you do with fresh—you can use fresh or frozen rhubarb in these recipes.

When you freeze it:

   Rhubarb, or pie‑plant as it is wont to be called, is a good one to freeze if you like it. The reason being, it is cheap when you have it in your own back yard.

All a family really needs is one or two plants. Prepare the stalks by washing, trimming and cutting into 1-inch pieces. Blanch the cut rhubarb in boiling water for one minute.  Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

     Now, you have two choices. I prefer to freeze it “dry pack,” which means without adding sugar.  I pack it in 2-cup measurements, which makes cooking with it later really simple since you know exactly how much you have. Then I store it in quart size ziplock bags, which stack up nice and neat on my freezer shelves.

     If you would like to freeze it “wet pack,” you will add to the cold rhubarb a prepared sugar syrup. A 40 percent sugar syrup is recommended for rhubarb. Dissolve 3 cups sugar into 4 cups of water. Use about 1/2 cup syrup to 2 cups of rhubarb. And remember what you did, (mark the package) so you don’t add too much sugar later when you use the frozen rhubarb.

Use fresh or frozen rhubarb to make a rhubarb cake:

Rhubarb cake

Makes 9-by-13-inch pan

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup sour milk or buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups flour

2 cups diced rhubarb

     Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sour milk and vanilla. Sift together baking soda and flour. Add dry ingredients while beating smooth. Fold in chopped rhubarb. 

     Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan. Bake at 350 F for about 35 to 40 minutes.

Use your frozen wet pack rhubarb to make what’s called a “fool:“

     Perhaps you think you know a fool, but I assure you, unless you’ve pureed fruit and added some type of cream to it to create this English dessert you do not know this fool. This recipe cuts down on the fat, by using yogurt, which cuts the sweetness a bit and imparts a slightly tart flavor.

     You may use a half portion of fool and a half portion of ice cream whipped together in a blender to make one great milk shake. If you like malt, add a tablespoon of malt powder too.

Rhubarb Fool

2 cups frozen “wet pack” rhubarb

2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries or raspberries

1 cup yogurt; use plain, vanilla, strawberry or raspberry flavor

     Defrost the rhubarb and fruit. Puree the fruit together in blender until smooth. Add the yogurt and whir until smooth. Pour into pretty glasses and serve, garnished with a mint leaf.