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Spring at Salt Box Gallery brings
plump, juicy stalks of rhubarb. We can't wait to make a pie,
rhubarb chutney for toast, or mom's special rhubarb squares. A
favorite at our Spring Open House is Rhubarb Punch. It
is refreshing and flavorful.
Rhubarb is easy to grow. My rhubarb comes from an heirloom variety
raised by my parents that is called Strawberry rhubarb. It is a good
producer with stalks that are very red at the base that graduate to
green at the leaf. Rhubarb plants prefer full sun. Adding compost,
rotted manure or peat, keeps rhubarb moist while providing the rich
soil they prefer. The buds or nodes should be placed 1 or 2
inches below the surface of the soil. Plants are spaced 4 feet apart. Do not harvest any
stalks the first year. The second year, harvest lightly. In
following years, harvest heavily, up to half of the leaves, for
about 6 weeks in the spring and early summer. To pick rhubarb,
grasp stalks at the base and pull up while twisting. Cut off
the leaves and compost them, they contain poisonous oxalic acid. Eat
only the stems of the rhubarb plant. Remove any flower stalks that
appear. In four or five years, you will have to pull up and divide
your rhubarb plant with a sharp spade, replanting the clumps.
If you would like to try making our Rhubarb Punch for your friends
and family, here is the recipe, from my "Herbal Refreshments"
Cookbooklet.
Cut rhubarb stalks into one-inch
pieces, you will need 5 cups. Add to one quart of water and
cook until rhubarb is tender. Strain the juice and add 2 cups
of sugar to the hot juice, stir to dissolve, then add water to yield
2 quarts of liquid. Add 1 cup orange juice and
1 cup lemon juice. This concentrate can be made a day ahead
and refrigerated until you want to serve your punch. I dilute the concentrate to make 5 or 6
quarts of finished punch by adding ice, a liter of 7-up and water to taste.
Garnish with sliced strawberries.
If you would like to try growing your own rhubarb, we have rhubarb
plants at our Spring Herb Fair and Plant Sale, along with a wide array of
herbs and perennial flowers. We have made gorgeous and fragrant
dried floral wreaths, swags and arrangements from the many herbs
grown in our gardens.
Visit Salt Box Gallery during the
3 weekends of our Spring Herb Fair try some herbal
refreshments and stroll through our Colonial Garden.
Hope to see you at Salt Box
Gallery!
Let me know how you like the website, drop me an
e-mail entitled "Regarding
website."
Happy Herbal Harvesting.
Marian
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