The Farm Home and Kitchen.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 57, Issue 6, 20 December 1938, Page 560

The Farm Home and Kitchen.

Contributed by the Association for Country Education.

New Ways for Serving Rhubarb.

TTZ 7HILE rhubarb is properly classed with vegetables, because classed with vegetables, because it is the stalk of a plant, -its acidity and flavour cause it to be used as a fruit. Just ' now it is making a welcome addition to the rather limited variety of fruits on the market. Inexpensive and plentiful, it makes a very palatable , contribution to our spring menus, and, for those who are fond of it, it can be very easily bottled for use during the winter. Bottled Rhubarb. There is more than one good way of bottling rhubarb for sauce. (i) Pack the rhubarb as tightly as possible into a jar. Fill the jar to overflowing with a hot, heavy syrup made of twice as much sugar as water by volume and cooked until the syrup forms a thread when dropped from a spoon. Adjust the rubber and the lid, but do not seal the jar. Sterilize the jar for fifteen minutes on a rack in a covered pan of boiling water. The water should be at least i in. over the top of the jar. Seal the jar, remove it from the water, invert it on a cloth, and allow it to cool. Store it in a cool, dark place. Rhubarb bottled in this way makes good sauce or filling for pies. (2) In a pint jar place a layer of rhubarb 1 in. deep, then a layer of sugar | in. in depth, and alternate in this, way until the jar is filled, having a layer of sugar on top. Adjust the rubber and the lid, and boil the jar in a water bath for twenty-five minutes. Remove it from the water, seal the jar, invert it, and allow it to cool. Store it in a cool, dark place. This makes a richer sauce than does the first method. (3) Rhubarb will keep if sealed in clean jars with cold water only.

Rhubarb Juice. . Cut the rhubarb into small pieces, add just enough cold water to cover it, and simmer it until it is very soft. Strain the juice through a jelly bag. To each quart of juice add one cupful of sugar. Heat the juice until the sugar is dissolved, skim it, and boil for five minutes. Pour it into clean, hot jars, and seal them. The juices may be used in making beverages, jellied desserts, and pudding sauces. Baked Rhubarb. Cut the rhubarb into small pieces. In a buttered baking-dish place a layer of rhubarb, sprinkle it generously with sugar, and alternate in this way ' until the dish is filled. Sprinkle sugar over the top, and add small pieces of butter and grated lemon-rind or cinnamon. Bake the dish slowly until it is well done. Long, slow baking gives rhubarb a rich, red colour. Rhubarb Puffs with Foaming Sauce. i cupful flour. i teaspoonful baking-powder. | teaspoonful salt. J cupful sugar. J cupful milk. i tablespoonful melted butter. - i egg, beaten. Rhubarb sauce. Method. Combine all the ingredients except the rhubarb in the :■ order given, and beat the mixture until it is smooth. Grease individual moulds or cups, and into each put three tablespoonfuls of rhubarb sauce and then one tablespoonful of the butter. . Steam the puffs for twenty minutes-; and serve them warm with cream and sugar or with foaming sauce.

Foaming Sauce. f cupful rhubarb juice. i cupful sugar. ’ Whites of 2 eggs. Method. —Boil the sugar and juice until the. syrup threads. Pour it over the well-beaten whites of the eggs, and beat the mixture until it is smooth and thick. Serve the sauce cold. - Rhubarb Tart. • Roll out plain pastry to | in. in thickness. Cut: it in circular pieces 4 in. in diameter. Place a tablespoonful of rhubarb preserve on each piece. Moisten one-half of the edge .with cold water, fold the pastry over, pressing the dry edge on the moistened edge. . Prick the tops, and bake the tarts in a hot oven. - Rhubarb Sherbert. (For those who own a refrigerator.) 1 tablespoonful granulated gelatin. | cupful cold water. 4 cups rhubarb juice. 2 cupfuls sugar. Juice of 2 lemons. Method. —Soak the gelatin in the cold water until it is. soft, and make a syrup by boiling a pan of the rhubarb juice and the sugar for. five minutes. Pour the hot syrup over the gelatin, add the lemon juice, and stir the mixture well. Strain it, allow to cool, and freeze it. Rhubarb Fool. Milk, | pint. ■ Salt, | teaspoonful. ' . Sugar, 2J oz. Cornflower, | oz. Eggs, 2. Vanilla, £ teaspoon. Rhubarb. Cream, | cup (whipped).'

Method. Boil the milk, add it gradually to the egg-yolks, which have been beaten with the cornflour, and add the salt and half the sugar. Cook over boiling water till thick. Cool, and combine with the egg-whites beaten stiffly, with the remaining sugar. Add an equal quantity of strained rhubarb pulp and half a cup of cream. Serve

cold. Note.ln making the custard one egg may be used instead of the two yolks, in which case all the sugar would be added with the cornflour and salt and the extra whites omitted. Rhubarb and Pineapple Marmalade. Shred . enough pineapple to make a quart, and to it allow 2 quarts of rhubarb

cut into small pieces, the grated rind and strained juice of two oranges, and 3| quarts sugar. Put the shredded pineapple into a preserving-pan with a very small; amount of water (just enough to prevent burning). Cook until tender. Add the rhubarb, sugar, rind, and juice and cook until thick. . Put into clean jars, and seal.