Ingredient

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a stalk that behaves like a fruit — sharply acidic, cooked with sugar, eaten as a pudding — and it is one of the few genuinely seasonal treats left in a British kitchen. It also falls apart at the slightest provocation, which is the one technical problem it presents.

Forced and field rhubarb are different ingredients

Forced rhubarb

Grown in the dark in heated sheds, harvested by candlelight, in season roughly January to March. Slender, vivid pink, tender, delicately flavoured and much less astringent. Cooks in minutes and holds its stunning colour.

Field or maincrop rhubarb

Grown outdoors, in season from spring into summer. Thicker, greener or mottled, more robust, more astringent, more assertively flavoured. Needs longer cooking and often more sugar.

Which to use

Forced rhubarb for anything where the colour and delicacy are the point — a fool, a compote, a tart. Field rhubarb for crumbles, jams and anything cooked long, where its stronger flavour holds up.

Colour is not ripeness

Green rhubarb is not underripe. Some varieties are simply green, and they can be excellent. Judge by firmness and by variety rather than by colour.

Why it collapses, and how to stop it

Rhubarb is very high in water and very low in pectin, and its cell walls are held together by pectin that breaks down rapidly in heat. Once that goes, there is nothing left to hold a piece together and it slumps into fibrous purée.

The answer is to cook it with as little liquid and as little agitation as possible, and to stop early.

Roasting is the best method by a distance. Cut into even lengths, laid in a single layer in a dish, tossed with sugar and a little orange juice, and roasted in a moderate oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. Nothing stirs it, no water is added, and the pieces come out intact, glossy and holding their shape.

Stewing works if you resist stirring — put it in a pan with sugar and a splash of liquid, lid on, low heat, and shake the pan rather than using a spoon.

Boiling it in water is how you get mush. There is essentially never a reason to do it.

What to do with it

• Roasted, with sugar and orange, served with cream, yoghurt or ice cream. The simplest and the best.
• Crumble, the default British answer, and one where a certain amount of collapse is fine.
• Fool, roasted and cooled, rippled through whipped cream and custard.
• With oily fish. Rhubarb sauce with mackerel is a genuine classic — the acidity does the job gooseberry does, cutting through the fat.
• With pork or duck, on the same principle.
• Jam and chutney, where its acidity helps and its low pectin means it needs help setting.
• Poached in a light syrup, gently, for a compote that keeps its shape.
• In a gin or a cordial, where its colour and sharpness both come through.

What it goes with

• Ginger — the classic pairing, fresh or stem, and it works in every direction.
• Orange — juice and zest, which softens the acidity and deepens the colour.
• Vanilla and custard — the traditional sweet foil.
• Strawberry — the American pairing, and the two seasons overlap.
• Rose and cardamom — floral notes suit forced rhubarb particularly.
• Almond — in a frangipane tart, one of the best things you can do with it.
• Oily fish and rich meat — mackerel, pork, duck, goose.

Common questions