Rhubahhhhb

I was in Shrewsbury this weekend and my aunt and uncle told me I could harvest some rhubarb and blueberries from their yard. Why anyone (apparently this person might have been in Mongolia - see below) decided to try eating a rhubarb plant is beyond me, but I'm glad someone gave it a shot because I love it. Growing up we would just dip the stalks in white sugar and eat it raw.


Abe being a fussy baby. He was put on blueberry picking duty after this.

A brief history on rhubarb from Wikipedia:

The plant is indigenous to Asia, and many suggest that it was often used by the Mongolians; particularly, the Tatars tribes of the Gobi Desert. The plant has grown wild along the banks of the River Volga for centuries; it may have been brought there by Eurasian tribes, such as the Scythians, Huns, Magyars or Mongols. The term rhubarb is a combination of the Greek rha and barbarum; rha being a term that referred both to the plant and to the River Volga. Varieties of rhubarb have a long history as medicinal plants in traditional Chinese medicine, but the use of rhubarb as food is a relatively recent innovation, first recorded in 17th century England, after affordable sugar became available to common people, and reaching a peak between the 20th century's two world wars. Rhubarb first came to America in the 1820s, entering the country in Maine and Massachusetts and moving westwards with the settlers.



Anyhoo, I modified a recipe for rhubarb cobbler that I found here and it was AMAZING. I forgot my camera this weekend so I am stealing a couple shots from the original recipe author's page.

My modifications include:

• Fresh picked blueberries (as many as you can pick - maybe a 1/2 cup?)
• 1 cup of sugar instead of 1/2 of cup (our rhubarb wasn't super ripe so I needed to cut the tartness)
• A tsp of cinnamon added to the crumble