stalking rhubarb
Many moons ago, I drove from San Francisco to New York to start a new life here, and I turned the road trip (slow, two-lane roads the entire journey) into a quest for pie.
One of my most memorable stops was in Munith, Michigan where on a dirt road, I came across a woman, Juanita, who was trying to coax her cat down from the high branches of a walnut tree. I parked my old Volvo, Betty, on the side of the road to offer my assistance.
We finally got the cat down and then noticed that in doing so, we’d trampled her rhubarb plants. I was 35 years old, and a food writer, and yet I'd never seen a rhubarb plant, let alone a thatch of them.
“Do you make pie with that rhubarb,” I asked. Well of course she did, and she offered to make a rhubarb custard pie for me then and there. The pie came with a lattice crust, and two cups of conversation about how she overcame her troubled childhood and marriage and these words of wisdom: “You’ve got to give more than you take in this life.You’ll be rewarded in ways that you don’t always realize.”
I’ve had a soft spot for rhubarb ever since and I await its appearance at the market with giddy anticipation. I’ve moved on from pie – probably overdid it a bit on the road trip – and I love to use rhubarb in other ways. When the strawberries hit the market, too, I make this tartly sweet strawberry rhubarb jam. This year, I'm excited to try this rhubarb pound cake. For the most vivid stripes, use the reddest rhubarb stalks you can find. They will fade to hot pink after poaching and baking.
Baker Randell Dodge, over at Red Barn Bakery is going full carpe diem on rhubarb, inserting the rosy stalk into so many of her baked goods this week: strawberry-rhubarb crisps and scones will be on offer, and she’s even tucking rhubarb into her red lentil pancakes.
Fun fact: Rhubarb, a member of the buckwheat family, and originally from Siberia, is botanically speaking, a vegetable. But, it was legally classified as a fruit for tariff purposes in the United States in 1947. Back then, there were higher tariffs on vegetables than fruit, don’t you know.
As beautiful as they are crunchy, watermelon radishes, also plentiful at the market right now, are the gift that keeps on giving. Roast them for the perfect side dish to brats on the grill (Letterbox, R&M and Goode & Local can help you with those). Pickle them and add them to your fish or carne asada tacos. Or cut them raw, into pretty pink slices to scoop up dips from AYA Hummus. Do a deep dive on the many ways to eat watermelon radish here. There’s also plenty of sweet spring garlic at the market right now, always a flavor revelation. Use spring garlic in spring soups, or to make this fantastic green garlic toast.
Wil-Hi Farm returns this week with their gorgeous cuts of lamb. Make sure to buy some of their merguez sausage, so delicious on the grill. Or pick up a leg of lamb to make this herbaceous spring lamb.
Don’t forget to add some produce to the Gleaning Basket this week.
All donations go directly to the refrigerator at the Hastings Food Pantry.
Speaking of...thank you to Denise Rosenberg, one of our favorite shoppers, for her generous cash contribution to our food pantry drive. And an open “thank you” for the anonymous donation we received last week, too.
If you lost your aqua water bottle, your credit cards (including a Macy’s card) or your keys last weekend, we have them and will keep them at the market tent.
See you at the market!