Rhubarb!!!!!

Between cold temperatures, being new plants, and the deer nibbling. my garden rhubarb crop is slow...and, let's face it... sparse.

So Thank Goodness for Clear Lake Farmer's Market Opening Day!

The market was filled with great foods!  Especially rhubarb.  I came home with three pounds of beautifully packed stems from Red Shed Gardens.

Now I could have made pie, but my new favorite rhubarb recipe is a rhubarb preserve. I discovered it in an issue of The Homemaker from 1900. The key to success is taking your time and careful measuring.  The reward--tangy sauce with nearly candied pieces of rhubarb.  Tasty by the spoonful, delightful warmed over ice cream, scrumptious drizzled over cake, or just dandy dabbed on a simple saltine with a bit of cheese -- perhaps from Lost Lake Farm who will be back at the Market on the first Saturday of each month.

1900 Rhubarb Jam 

1 pound rhubarb (about 4 cups when sliced into 1/4-inch slices)
1 pound granulated sugar (2 cups)

It is best to make this measuring your ingredients by weight. But it will work if you do just measure by cups.  I've found it best to make no more than a pound at a time.

Slice the rhubarb across the stalks into 1/4-inch pieces. If the stalks are wide, slice them in half lengthwise as well. Mix the sliced rhubarb and sugar. Let the mixture stand for at least 8, and up to 24, hours in a cool place. You can put it in the refrigerator, especially if your kitchen is warm. Give it a stir now and then as the rhubarb juices are released. Or, if you put the mixture in a zippered freezer bag, you can just smoosh them with your hands.

When it is time to make the sauce, pour the rhubarb, accumulated juices, and any remaining undissolved sugar into a heavy pot or pan with a 10- to 12-inch bottom. A frying pan with sides at least 2-inches high works well. You want the mixture to come into even contact with the heat. Begin cooking over medium heat, stirring frequently. DO NOT walk away from the stove. As the juices begin to thicken, they bubble up and could overflow or stick. This can happen as fast as it takes to look at a text. So don't do that either. Continue cooking and stirring until the juices have thickened and the pieces of rhubarb look translucent. When you pull a silicone spatula or spoon across the bottom, the jam moves to the sides and you can see the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat. Cool and enjoy. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. Serve at room temperature, or slightly warmed.  NOTE: I have been known to keep this in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks.  If it thickens, add hot water by the tablespoon, and stir carefully to loosen it up.

Makes about 2 cups of delicious preserves.


Copyright 2019 Rae K. Eighmey all rights reserved.

Summer's Bounty is Starting and So It's Time to Finish Up Last Year's Crops

From the sound of it today -- Summer is here!  The dock crews have been busy on our shore all day today. The installed docks are quickly supplied with boat hoists.  Just in time to be ahead of the predicted five days of rain.

The past few days have finally felt seasonable for yard work, too.  Managed to get inside the garden fence to do some digging. This year I hope to stretch the sunny garden space by putting planter boxes and even pots along the edge. That's where the spinach, lettuce, and lunch-box peppers will grow. I've also tried some green beans. It will be much easier to walk around the growing tomatoes to the cucumbers without risk of stepping on those ground-level crops. Tripods are set up to support the pole beans and the peas are getting ready to climb up their own supports. 

If you look closely at the full garden picture you'll see the holes in the background ready for the heritage variety tomato plants and the watering jugs I bury next to them so I can get liquid fertilizer directly to their roots. Six small plants from Seed Savers are hardening off on the back porch ... but I got impatient. So.....

This patio tomato plant, complete with flowers, just happened to fall into the cart while we were shopping at the garden center. Some hearty, yet leggy, basil plants came home with us too, to join the already potted up parsley, rosemary, and lemon thyme. 

Some hearty, yet leggy, basil plants came home with us too,

to join the already potted up parsley, rosemary, and lemon thyme.

But here's the opportunity.  I still have a couple of bags of peeled, seeded, roughly chopped tomatoes in the freezer.  When we've tomatoes in abundance, I just toss them in zipper freezer bags. All winter I pull those out for making soup or chili.  But now I have some fresh produce. So I made a Winter-Summer Pasta. 

Winter-Summer Pasta

1 bag home-frozen tomatoes -- about 8 medium

1 small can tomato paste, optional 

Fresh herbs, finely chopped -- basil, thyme, rosemary -- or your preference 

pasta

Thaw the bag of tomatoes in a large bowl. Drain off the accumulated juices and put into your pasta cooking pot. Add just enough water for the pasta to boil comfortably. You want them to absorb as much of the "tomato water" as possible. While the pasta is cooking, heat the tomatoes, If you want a slightly thicker sauce, stir in a tablespoon or two of the tomato paste. Off heat, stir in the herbs, reserving some for garnish. Drain pasta, plate and add sauce. 

Leftover sauce will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, or can be frozen for the next time winter temperatures come along this spring. Hey!  It's north Iowa.  It happens.