Rhubarb Chicken (Savory Rhubarb Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

How do you prepare rhubarb before cooking? ›

To prepare: Wash the stems and cut off the leaves and the ends. Cut into 2cm lengths, removing any strings if necessary. Stew or poach in some water and a little sugar. When making a crumble or a pie, the rhubarb does not need to be cooked first.

Although it can be eaten raw, rhubarb tends to be too tart this way, and it's usually best when cooked with plenty of sugar. It goes well with both ginger and strawberries.

Cut away and discard any tough, woody, or bruised parts of the stalks. Wash the stalks thoroughly and scrub with a vegetable brush. You don't need to peel peak-season rhubarb, but by midsummer, the stalks tend to be tough and fibrous. You might need to peel them to make them tastier.

“When you are ready to use fresh rhubarb, rinse them for 20 seconds with water and dry on a clean cloth.” Remove and throw away leaves and trim the ends of the rhubarb. Rinse with water and dry with a clean cloth. Cut the rhubarb to a size that is convenient for how you plan to use it in future recipes.

Rhubarb is rich in antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins (which give it its red color) and proanthocyanidins. These antioxidants have anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties, which help protect you from many health-related issues such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Rhubarb leaves are considered inedible due to their high concentration of oxalic acid. In fact, both the stalks and leaves contain oxalic acid, but the leaves have a much higher content. Oxalic acid is a natural substance found in many plants, including leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and cocoa ( 2 ).

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the rhizome and root are use to treat gastrointestinal and liver diseases. It is also used in herbal formulas such as Ma Zi Ren Wan. In lab animals, compounds in rhubarb called anthraquinones reduced pain, inflammation, and some tumors.

Rhubarb is a type of laxative called a stimulant laxative. Stimulant laxatives can cause diarrhea and decrease potassium levels. Taking rhubarb with other stimulant laxatives might cause more diarrhea and very low potassium levels.

Rhubarb leaves are toxic and humans should never ingest them. The stems are safe to eat.

How long does rhubarb last in the fridge? ›

The stalks can be kept in the refrigerator, unwashed and wrapped, for up to three weeks.

You can freeze rhubarb raw, blanched or fully cooked. Regardless of which stage you choose to freeze at, the rhubarb will break down more as it defrosts, so it's best used in dishes where you don't need neat sticks of it.

Sennoside A and other dianthrone derivatives are reported to be the active ingredients causing rhubarb's laxative effect (6). They are metabolized by β-glucosidase of enterobacterial origin and are converted into rhein anthrone, which produces the purgative activity.

A cup is a measure of volume while pounds is a measure of weight so a direct calculation is difficult. If we only take liquid weight into account, one cup is eight ounces and two pounds would be 32 ounces so two pounds of rhubarb would equate to 4 cups.

No, you do not need to peel rhubarb before cooking it. The skin of rhubarb stalks is edible, and it softens during cooking. Just make sure you wash the stalks before cooking them.

Peeling rhubarb is rarely necessary. Most recipes require the rhubarb to be cut into batons. Using a paring knife, top and tail the stem, slice at an angle into the size that the recipe requires – this could vary from 1 inch chunks for quick-stewed rhubarb to longer batons for roasting or poaching.

Rhubarb is a wicked good way to kick up the crunch factor in salads, too. Its sharp flavor makes a mouthwatering foil in sweet fruit salads, but it's a delight in green salads, especially when paired with fennel. You can even add thin strips of raw rhubarb to a slaw.