The end of February in the UK is an in between time for fruit.
Autumnal apples and pears are getting past their prime,
and fragrant, soft summer berries are only available frozen or tinned.
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Thankfully, rhubarb is a delicious home-grown 'fruit' available at this time of year.
It makes a great stop-gap providing necessary vitamins and minerals in the diet.
Of course it's not exactly a fruit - technically it's a vegetable,
but it's usually used for puddings and sweet pies or pastries.
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Every year, around this time, he rosy green stems of rhubarb
start to appear in the green-grocers
just begging to be snapped up and cooked
with enough sugar or honey
to sweeten the edge off its natural sourness.
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When buying rhubarb,
look out for firm stiff stems that are not too chunky -
about 2cm wide -
preferably with leaves to enable you to judge the freshness.
Droopy leaves show that the rhubarb is past its sell-by-date.
Don't get any ideas about eating the leaves though
as they contain a high amount of oxalic acid and oxalates,
which makes the leaves highly toxic.
Towards the end of the season
you may find the stems quite tough and stringy;
they need to be peeled to remove the tough strings
on the outside of the stems.
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Something to remember when cooking rhubarb;
you don't really need to add liquid,
unless you are adding flavour -
as in orange juice -
or making a jelly.
Rhubarb will produce copious quantities of its own juices.
When making pastries with rhubarb,
either drain the liquid off before putting in the pie,
or add a protective layer between the fruit and the pastry -
a mixture of butter, sugar and almonds works well -
or add cornflour to the liquid to thicken the juices to a gel,
which wont make the pastry over-soggy.
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This compote is great on its own,
or served with custard, cream or yoghurt.
It also makes a great accompaniment for steamed pudding,
or for the base for a pie or cake.
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Ingredients:
1kg rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices
4 strips orange zest
100ml runny honey
85 g caster sugar
juice of 1 large orange
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Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C
Place the rhubarb in a shallow ovenproof dish with the orange zest and drizzle the honey over it. Sprinkle with sugar and pour over the orange juice. Cover with foil and bake for 25-35 minutes, stirring now and then, until the rhubarb is tender, but not breaking up.
Serve hot, warm or cold or use for puddings, pies or cakes.
