"Rhubarb Pie"
I was catching a few warmish early spring rays while listening to the "Moose" on my multi-band, portable radio. A synapse fired, and I thought of Rhubarb Pie. Don't know what the connection was, but here we are!
I'm told that rhubarb originated in Asia and likes a cool, moist climate. Rhubarb is a vegetable. The USDA calls it a fruit. If you want to argue about it, that's a different kind of rhubarb. The barb's cherry red stalks are edible. Uncooked they are tart, tough, and stringy. Rhubarb dishes are mainly soups, stews, and deserts. It's also used in salads and meat dishes as an accent flavor like a spice. As an accent, barb is often sweetened with honey or sugar. Strawberries are frequently paired with rhubarb because of complementary flavor and sweetness.
I grew up in the Puget Sound area. Rhubarb and strawberries grew well in that area. Occasionally I worked for a near-by rhubarb farmer weeding and picking field barb, and sometimes tendeding the hothouse heaters.
Back in the day, hothouses were long, low, windowless structures with dirt floors. Dormant rhubarb root hills were placed inside on the floor. Hand watering and warm temperatures triceds the barb into a false, mid-winter, spring. Lack of light causes the stalks to grow thin,tender, and a pink- lemonade color. Hothouse rhubarb was choice-grade fetching the highest prices at the cannery. But the hothouse process was hard on roothills. Normal rotation was 3 to 4 field seasons to one hothouse season.
I love rhubarb: cookies, cakes, pies, ... yom!
