Rhubarb soup

[Rosamunda]

Am looking for a tried and tested recipe for traditional Finnish rhubarb soup. I have tried the Ojakangas recipe but find it too much like jelly. But then again her recipe is in "cups" and I'm all metric so was guessing a bit with the quantities (two cups of rhubarb... ) Also, question, should rhubarb soup be strained or do you leave all the rhubarb fibres in it? Which is best: potato flour or corn starch? Do you add any spices, which? I usually add elderflower syrup (from Ikea as I am yet to get any flowers from my own bushes).

And any other delicious recipes for rhubarb would be MORE than welcome as I have a ton of the stuff and am determined not to throw it away or let it rot in the garden.

Will probably freeze some of it and then make strawberry and rhubarb jam as soon as the strawberries are ready.

Thanks

[EP]

Potato flour and all the fibres in.

I suppose you have made "kiisseli" which is thicker than soup. You can easily turn that into soup by using less potato flour. My simple "raparperikiisseli" is like this:

3/4 l water
1/2 l pieces of rhubarb
1 dl sugar
3 tbl potato flour

Water, rhubarb pieces and sugar boiled till rhubarb is soft. Add potato flour until the thickness is the way you want it. Serve cold with a couple of strawberries as decoration. Violets look nice too and are edible.

I also make pies out of it. But I don´t really have a recipe, I just improvise: rhubarb pieces in a cheese pie, rhubarb & quark, rhubarb and vanilla "kiisseli", and so on.

[EP]

Here´s what I had at my neighbours today:

Raparperipaistos (serves

1 kg rhubarb pieces
1 dl dark cane sugar
1 tbl cinnamon

On top:

50 g melted margarine (max 40 % fat)
1 dl dark cane sugar
1 dl oatmeal
1 dl oat bran
1 dl crushed nuts

Put the rhubarb pieces into qwen pan. Sprinkle cane sugar and cinnamon on top. Mix oatmeal, bran and crushed nuts with melted margarine. Add on top of the rhubarbs. 20 minutes in 200° owen. Serve with vanilla icecream or whipped vanilla sauce.

[raumagal]

I just made some strawberry rhubarb soup last week. I usually just wing it but below are the approximate measurements.

Strawberry rhubarb soup

5 dl water
2 stalks rhubarb (bigger sized ones)
2-3 dl strawberries
1 dl sugar
2 rkl potato flour
2 rkl cold water

Peel off the outer layer of skin of the rhubarb (cut at top & peel downward). Then cut up the rhubarb into small pieces. Cook the water, rhubarb and strawberries until the fruit is soft & the rhubarb "melts". Mix the cold water and potato flour well. Take the soup off from the heat and then whisk in the potato flour/water mixture. I usually break up the strawberries too. Cook for a few minutes after. You can adjust the amount of potato flour & water to make it thicker/thinner. Also you can adjust the sugar to your taste. Chill and serve with whipped cream on top. You can also add some ground cinnamon or a cinnamon stick during cooking if you want.

Allrecipes.com has lots of rhubarb recipes so you might want to check it out. Here is one I make from there (it can be converted to metric) http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rhubarb-Cake-I/Detail.aspx

I also cut up and freeze rhubarb if we have a lot.


(edited to add about cutting up the rhubarb and peeling off the skin)

[Rosamunda]

Super thanks.

I will try all of those. Fortunately I love rhubarb. The kids don't, but with the strawberries I think it will pass!

[wattypiper]

Just don't eat the leaves:

http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/rhubarb-poison.html

[Rob A.]

...And yet another delightful sounding Finnish surprise... I was at an all-day seminar today..."free lunch" included...After reading this thread yesterday, I opted for the rhubarb pie...

[sammy]

Super thanks.

I will try all of those. Fortunately I love rhubarb. The kids don't, but with the strawberries I think it will pass!

I seem to remember that rhubarb contains oxalic acid and this can put some people off it, the acid may irritate the stomach. Supposedly milk would counteract the effects of the oxalic acid, so I've always been told one should enjoy them together (maybe ice cream would also do )

[Hank W.]

I remember it was rhubarb kiisseli with whipped cream...

[wattypiper]

"the (oxalic) acid may irritate the stomach."

And the side effect of killing you

[sammy]

"the (oxalic) acid may irritate the stomach."

And the side effect of killing you

Oh yeah, there is that little detail to be considered. Household tip of the day: harvest your rhubarb with a scythe, whilst wearing a black robe.

In rhubarb, it's the leaves and the roots that carry most of the stuff I think, the stems have less. But I was surprised that tea leaves also seem to have a high concentration of o.a.

Ei elämästä selviä hengissä!

[Hank W.]

Household tip of the day: harvest your rhubarb with a scythe, whilst wearing a black robe.

I need to work on this picture...

[elisouli]

Ketunleipä (Oxalis acetosella)

That is edible.

[wattypiper]

The advice I've seen over the years is just to eat rhubarb in moderation - a small amount of oxalic acid can be handled supposedly well enough.

[Rosamunda]

The other advice I have read, but don't know if it is scientifically proven is: you should NEVER cook rhubarb in an aluminium pan.

Presumably something in the rhubarb reacts with the metal and releases something which ain't no good. Since aluminium is associated with all kinds of evil nasty ailments nowadays (like Alzheimers), I guess this could be something more than an old wives' tale.