WHAT IS RHUBARB:

Rhubarb is the plump, consumable stalks (petioles) of species and crossovers (culinary rhubarb) of Rheum in the family Polygonaceae, prepared and utilized for food. The entire plant is herbaceous, developing from short, thick rhizomes – is likewise called rhubarb.

Rhubarb is sold at farmer’s place and supermarkets by the stem, similar to celery. It’s gathered in the spring, with a short season that ranges from April to June, also known as the rhubarb season. Rhubarb stalks are acclaimed for their dazzling pink and red colour tone and their tartness. There are many types of rhubarb such as Cherry red, Hardy tarty, German wine, sunrises, Crimson red, Victoria, Kangarhu, Prince Albert, Riverside Giant, Chipman’s Canada red, Timperley Early, and many others.

This article covers all the questions related to frozen rhubarb and how we use it.

 

BENEFITS OF RHUBARB FOR HEALTH:

Rhubarb is a good source of Vitamins, like K and A. It also contains antioxidants and many types of minerals that are beneficial for our health. Some health benefits are as follows:

Natural laxative:

Rhubarb is best known for relieving constipation. It contains tannins, which are anti-diarrheal, and they also have a high amount of dietary fibre, which helps digestion.

Rhubarb pulled from garden

Strengthen bones:

As we know, rhubarb is rich in Vitamin K, which plays a significant role in preventing osteoporosis and bone formation. Rhubarb is also a source of calcium, which is good for healthy bones.

Helps in Weight loss:

Rhubarb is a low-calorie fruit or vegetable, which tends to reduce our bad cholesterol. It sure can be an incredible expansion to a weight reduction diet. It likewise contains catechins, the very mixtures in green tea that give it its valuable properties. Fresh rhubarb is also a decent wellspring of fibre, another supplement significant for weight reduction. On account of its diuretic properties, This fruit is a specific fixing in certain weight reduction arrangements.

Brain booster:

Rhubarb helps to reduce inflammation; the nutrient K in it limits neuronal harm to the mind.

CAN YOU FREEZE RHUBARB?

Yes, Rhubarb freezes delightfully, and every one of the manners in which you’d utilize new rhubarb from jams to pies works similarly also with frozen rhubarb.

WHY SHOULD WE FREEZE RHUBARB?

A heavenly and underutilized vegetable, fresh rhubarb is at its top from April until June. Otherwise called pieplant, it has a tart flavour and brilliant tone. While its leaves are toxic as they contain oxalic acid, the stalks are protected to eat and are very delicious when cooked with sugar, making them an incredible expansion to various sweets.

Rhubarb Cut Up

PREPARING RHUBARB FOR FREEZING

Removing leaves:

Take as much Rhubarb as you want from your garden or market. Always cut its leaves by using a kitchen knife and eliminate them. Make sure to keep them away from your children as they are incredibly poisonous.

Rhubarb remove leaves

Washing and cleaning:

As rhubarb grows close to the surface, it mainly contains dirt. We should wash it thoroughly and clean it properly, ensuring that every dirt particle is removed then dry.

wash rhubarb

HOW TO FREEZE RHUBARB

There are various ways to freeze fresh rhubarb; We can either freeze it raw, blanched, or cooked.

FREEZING RAW RHUBARB:

Individual tray drying

Trim the rhubarb into thin pieces, almost one to two-inch pieces. Set pieces in a single layer on a tray or baking sheet, add the pieces in a single layer in such a manner that they have some space in between them, then place the tray in the freezer. Freeze them for four hours. Please take out the frozen stalks and put them in an air-tight container or freezer-safe zipper bags. As the stalks are individually frozen first, this prevents the sticking of rhubarb pieces. This method is known as individual tray drying.

Rhubarb on tray

Dry pack

We can directly freeze stalks in the freezer bags after cutting; this method is known as Dry pack. It is favourable in circumstances where we need a measured quantity of frozen rhubarb. Place the required amount in the metric size of the container.

The rhubarb can likewise be sugar-coated before dry packing whenever wanted. Before putting the rhubarb in the container, mix one cup of sugar evenly in 4 cups of rhubarb, then freeze it as mentioned.

When placing frozen rhubarb in plastic bags, leave the headspace of about an inch to remove excess air and consider extension when the rhubarb freezes. Mark the container with expiry dates, name and quantity of product to remember it when needed.

 

Frozen Rhurbarb

FREEZING BLANCHED RHUBARB:

If you plan on freezing rhubarb for more than three months, blanching rhubarb is ideal for maintaining and protecting the bright colour. For blanching, prepare rhubarb, cut them into 1 inch and drop these pieces into boiling water. Let them boil for about 1 minute; you can likewise stream the rhubarb pieces. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl for an ice bath with chilled water and ice cubes. After letting it cook for a minute, quickly channel the rhubarb in a colander, at that point, move it to the bowl of cold water. This stops the cooking interaction. Let them stay in an ice bath for 2 minutes and tenderly mix them. Dry the blanch rhubarb pieces on a paper towel and set them in a single layer on a baking sheet. Lay down the baking sheet in the freezer for two hours, do not cover the piece. Move the frozen pieces into an air-tight container or plastic bag. Mark the container with expiry dates, name and quantity of product to remember it when needed.

Cook Rhurbarb

FREEZING COOKED RHUBARB:

It is ideal for cooking rhubarb slightly before freezing. We can cook rhubarb in two ways:

Stewed Rhubarb

Place the rhubarb in a pot filled with a small amount of water, or we can use freshly squeezed orange juice. And add a sprinkling of sugar. Rhubarb can be very tart, so that you may require 15-30g sugar per 100g rhubarb; start with 15g and add all the more later if you need to. You can likewise add different flavours, like ginger, at this stage. Cook it until it is juicy and soft. Cool it fully; at that point, freeze rhubarb in partitions in containers.

Stewed Rhubarb

Roasted Rhubarb

This method starts by heating the oven at 200C/180C. Cut the rhubarb into small size. Put in a shallow dish, powder over 80g caster sugar, mix it and spread them in a single layer. Cover it with foil and bake for almost 15 mins. Eliminate the foil and bake for another 5 mins or until delicate and the juices are sweet. The rhubarb should, in any case, have kept its shape. Cool and freeze rhubarb in a container.

Roasted Rhurbarb

FREEZING RHUBARB AS A SYRUP:

Making of syrup:

Take a saucepan, add four cups of water and two cups of sugar. Heat the combination to the point of boiling on medium flame and stir it regularly. Take off the pan from the heat once the sugar dissolves. It would be best if you had sufficient basic syrup to cover the rhubarb. Utilize the two sections of water to one section sugar proportion.

Cooling the syrup:

Put the syrup in a safe spot and let it cool for about 60 minutes until it’s close to room temperature. At that point, move the syrup to the cooler and let it chill for one more hour. Significantly, the syrup is altogether chilled before you join it with the rhubarb.

Combining:

Move your rhubarb pieces to a bowl. Cover the rhubarb with the basic syrup, and mix the blend to lower the syrup’s rhubarb. Freezing the rhubarb in syrup will help with safeguarding the tone, colour and flavour.

Pour the mixture of rhubarb and syrup in an air-tight freezer bag leaving some headspace, and place it in the freezer.

freezer

HOW LONG IS RHUBARB GOOD IN FREEZER:

Rhubarb can be frozen for 8 months-12 months. It means one year-round if you use jar containers or zip lock bags which implies you can save it until you have many strawberries to match it with or prepare to bake a pie.

DO WE HAVE TO PEEL RHUBARB?

No, Rhubarb is good to go without peeling. Just wash them thoroughly, and they are ready to cook or freeze.

Fresh Rhubarb

DOES FROZEN RHUBARB TASTE AS GOOD AS FRESH?

Rhubarb tends to soften and ooze out some of its fluid after freezing or defrosting. Since most plans we use rhubarb include cooking and relaxing, this adjustment in the surface is certainly not terrible. There is a slight loss of flavour in the wake of defrosting rhubarb.

CAN WE FREEZE RHUBARB AGAIN?

Although we can refreeze rhubarb, it is highly suggested not to do it. While refreezing rhubarb, there is a danger that you’ll separate the surface to some degree, and it tends to be a little delicate and soft in parts. If you want to utilize rhubarb for stew, then it is acceptable to refreeze it.

THAWING RHUBARB:

Defrosting vegetable often seems to be a difficult task for one, but we can do it in some easy ways that are as follows:

Underwater Thawing:

One of the most used thawing rhubarb methods for immediate use is to place it under running water. It is the easiest method of all; we can start by simply taking out our container or bag from the freezer and Putting it under running water; using cold water is preferred, and we should avoid warm water. We have to press it gently till we can feel the change of texture and its form. Open the bag and put the rhubarb in a strainer to drain the excess water before using it in recipes. After this method of thawing, we should use the rhubarb immediately to avoid softness and other effects.

Overnight in Fridge:

Regarding thawing out rhubarb, the best method is to put it in the refrigerator short-term to give it a lot of time to defrost, but this requires a little preparation. You will not have the option to utilize the rhubarb directly from the cooler. This isn’t the situation, notwithstanding if you need to make sauces and jams.

USE OF FROZEN RHUBARB:

There are unending ways to use frozen rhubarb that you will love, from muffins to mini hand pie and a classic jam.

We can use it in the following tasty and mouthwatering recipes:

Rhubarb and Strawberry

They are the perfect matches for each other; the tartness of rhubarb and the slight sweetness of strawberry make any dessert a good treat. We can cook strawberry rhubarb jam, Strawberry rhubarb sangria jellies, Strawberry rhubarb pie squares, strawberry rhubarb crisp, and strawberry rhubarb crumble.

Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb pie

It is a delight to your taste buds. We can make pie filling by combing rhubarb, and granulating sugar, then boiling them in a large bowl, let them come in thick texture, add vanilla in it. Enjoy the rich and amazing pie.

 

Rhubarb Cake!

How to Freeze Rhubarb |

Try out our Rhubarb Torte Crisp Cake – it’s between a cake and a crisp!

 

Rhubarb cake

Rhubarb Custard Pie:

Rhubarb Custard Pies a delightful recipe filled with cream and made with milk and eggs. Skim milk is not used as it is a pie. The crust should be soft and delicate that can be kept in the freezer for three days.

Rhubarb Salad

Rhubarb spring salad:

Rhubarb roasted for only a couple of minutes is a tart garnish for a blended green serving of mixed greens with raisins, pecans and goat cheddar cheese.

Rhubarb muffins:

One of the excellent ways of using frozen rhubarb is to bake muffins. Most people enjoy eating these muffins at breakfast or brunch. Soft and moist pieces of rhubarb are made with cake and then topped with cinnamon crumbles.

Rhubarb crisp:

It has a golden crunch at the top, and it is best served with vanilla icecream. I bet you won’t share this treat with anyone.

Rhubarb Ice cream:

Rhurbarb Ice Cream

Ice creams are everyone’s favourite dessert. There is no need for an ice cream maker, so it is easy to make this delicious sweet treat.

Rhubarb Curd:

This brilliant thought was motivated by lemon curd simply sub in frozen rhubarb. Spread it on hotcakes, top on oats, spoon it into little meringues, overlap it into whipped cream or eat it from the container.

Rhubarb sauce:

Rhubarb is an early summer fruit that gives us smooth, delicious sauce that people enjoy most as a topping on ice creams, muffins and cakes.

Rhubarb is a gift for us during springs. This vegetable, also regarded as the fruit, is rich in nutrients, and we can freeze and store it easily. It is the most loved ingredient for desserts; its tartness can be combined with any other fruit to give flavours.