We Love Rhubarb Kitchen Workshop

We Love Rhubarb Kitchen Workshop – Kitchen and Garden Workshop Series #2

Rhubarb is one of the first garden crops ready for harvest. Wildsight Kimberley Cranbrook and the Cranbrook Food Action Committee are once again partnering to offer the “Kitchen and Garden Workshop series” and rhubarb is the topic of the upcoming workshop.

The "We Love Rhubarb Kitchen Workshop” will be offered in Kimberley on June 16 at McKim Middle School and in Cranbrook on June 18 at the new Community Connections Kitchen. Sessions run from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and cost $20 for Wildsight members and $25 for non-members. If cost is a barrier, some volunteer bursaries are available.

Participants can expect the workshops to be fun, tasty and informative sessions. In addition to discovering more about rhubarb, you will explore some new recipes and meet your fellow community members.  Sophie of the Cranbrook Food Action Committee challenges people to “move out of the rhubarb crisp comfort zone” and try something different like a rhubarb soda!  Participants will make up to five rhubarb dishes, some savory and some sweet. There will be lots of sampling and participants will take home a little something for later.

Rhubarb is a delicious and healthy vegetable. It is rich in vitamin C, dietary fiber and calcium; it is also a source of potassium. This workshop will ensure you take full advantage of the hardy, abundant bounty of the rhubarb plant if you love rhubarb, grow it or want to expand your cooking repertoire. Register soon to avoid disappointment.

To register or find out more about the workshops visit www.wildsight.ca/kimcran or 250-427-9325 x 221. 

Place a  pot with a hole in the bottom over the rhubarb clump when it first appears in the spring.  This will draw the stems towards the light for the most tender stems of the season.  Remove once the leaves reach the top!

Editor's favourite recipe:

Rhubarb – Raisin Squares

St. John’s Anglican, Manitou, Manitoba from Best Recipes This Side of Heaven published by Holy Trinity Anglican, Yorkton, Sask

Base:

½ cup butter

1 cup all purpose flour

1tbsp granulated sugar

Blend (I use the processor) and press into an 8”inch square pan.  Bake at 350F for 10 mins.

Filling

2 cups chopped rhubarb

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ cup raisins

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp orange rind

3 egg yolks

½ cup milk

In medium bowl stir together and pour over hot base and bake at 350F for 45mins –‘til set

Meringue

3 egg whites

¼ cup icing sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

¼ cup flaked coconut

In mixing bowl beat egg whites ‘til foamy.  Add icing sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff and glossy. Spread over filling and sprinkle with coconut.  Bake for ten more minutes until browned..  Cool and cut into squares.

Doubles well!!  Good thing!