Rhubarb Delights Cookbook

by Karen Jean Matsko Hood

Overview

Rhubarb is an all-time favorite vegetable that once was used for medicinal purposes, but has always tasted delicious in Mom's homemade pie. In this cookbook, you'll find more than just pie recipes to spark your imagination in cooking with rhubarb. Delicious rhubarb is versatile, nutritious, and always adds a special flair to many dishes, whether used in cakes, pies and breads, in preserves, as a salad ingredient, in wines or brandies, or any number of other imaginative ways. In Rhubarb Delights Cookbook, author Karen Jean Matsko Hood presents her collection of more than 250 exciting rhubarb recipes that will be sure to please everyone. Inside, you will also find some fascinating reading regarding this old-time favorite's history, folklore, cultivation, and much more. With recipes using readily available ingredients, Rhubarb Delights Cookbook will be a valued addition to any chef's bookshelf.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598081053
Publisher:	Whispering Pine Press International, Inc.
Publication date:	09/26/2011
Series:	Cookbook Delights Series , #15
Pages:	326
Sales rank:	318,249
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Karen Jean Matsko Hood has always enjoyed cooking, baking, and experimenting with recipes. At this time, Karen is working to complete a series of cookbooks that blends her skills and experience in cooking and entertaining. Hood entertains large groups of people and especially enjoys designing creative menus with holiday, international, ethnic, and regional themes.
Ms. Hood is publishing a cookbook series entitled the Cookbook Delights Series, in which each cookbook emphasizes a different food ingredient or theme. The first cookbook in the series is Apple Delights Cookbook. She has been invited to speak on talk radio shows on various topics, and favorite recipes from her cookbooks have been prepared on local television programs.
Karen was born and raised in Great Falls, Montana. In May 2001, she completed her Master's Degree in Pastoral Ministry at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Ms. Hood is working on research projects to complete her Ph.D. in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
She resides in Liberty Lake, Washington, along with her husband, many of her younger sixteen children. Her hobbies include cooking, baking, collecting, photography, indoor and outdoor gardening, farming, and the cultivation of unusual flowering plants and orchids.
Ms. Hood demonstrates a passionate appreciation of the environment and a respect for all life.

Read an Excerpt

Info for Rhubarb Delights

Rhubarb Nutrition and Health

Rhubarb has a very intense tart flavor, and quite a bit of sugar is needed to offset this tartness.

Sweet strawberries are often combined with rhubarb to balance its flavor. Apples, figs, pears, and raspberries also complement the flavor of rhubarb.

Spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg go well with rhubarb to make many different foods.

Rhubarb is a tasty market treat that is perfect for sauces, jams, and baked goods and has great nutritional qualities.

The nutritional value of rhubarb makes it ideal for maintaining optimum health and weight loss.

Rhubarb is 95 percent water and is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium; high in dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, potassium, manganese, and magnesium.

Rhubarb is a source of potassium, which helps to control blood pressure and reduces chances of strokes. Potassium also can lower the possibility of developing certain types of kidney stones and may help to prevent bone loss.

The fiber in rhubarb is helpful for the gastrointestinal tract and assists in weight management, as you feel full faster with high fiber foods.

A 100 gram serving of rhubarb (about 3.5 ounces) has less than 1 gram of protein and not quite 4 grams of carbohydrates as well as almost 1 gram of dietary fiber and only 16 calories! The calorie figure shoots up to 141 calories when sugar is added for cooking.

Rhubarb contains almost 10% of the RDA for calcium, 15% for vitamin C and 4% for iron. Unfortunately the high calcium content it supplies is bound by oxalic acid and so it is not easily absorbed by the body.Do not count on rhubarb as a source of dietary calcium.

One additional health warning: Because rhubarb is high in oxalates, some studies say it may contribute to the formation of kidney stones. So you may want to avoid large quantities, especially if you are prone to kidney stones.

It is also believed that rhubarb is helpful in healthy liver function.

With zero fat and cholesterol, low sodium content, small amounts of Vitamin C, and a pleasantly tart taste, rhubarb is a great choice for summer cooking.


Did You Know? . . . .

Did you know that rhubarb leaves make nice patterns on clay pots?


Rhubarb Ginger Peach Julep

Try this refreshing julep on a nice summer day.

Ingredients:

2 c. rhubarb jam
1/2 c. ginger peach jam
24 oz. lemon lime soda
4 fresh mint leaves
crushed ice

Directions:

1. In blender or food processor, combine jams and mint leaves.
2. Slowly add soda.
3. Add crushed ice to glasses; pour over ice.
4. Garnish with mint leaves.


Did You Know? . . . .

Did you know rhubarb stalks have been used as a love stimulant in tonics since the Chinese first cultivated the plant in 2700 BC?


Rhubarb Hickory Nut Bread

The addition of hickory nuts makes this very interesting and tasty bread.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. rhubarb, coarsely chopped
3/4 c. fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, crushed
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 Tbs. milk
4 Tbs. butter, melted
1 c. hickory nuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. fruit ju reserved from steeped fruit powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease an 8-inch loaf pan.
3. In bowl, let rhubarb and strawberries steep in 1/2 cup of sugar for 1 hour or more (even overnight), stirring once or twice.
4. Add remaining sugar and all dry ingredients together; mix thoroughly.
5. In large bowl, beat egg lightly.
6. Add 1/4 cup of the juice that the fruit will have exuded after steeping, as well as the milk and melted butter; stir well.
7. Mix dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just enough to mix.
8. Drain fruit.
9. Fold into the batter along with the nuts.
10. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
11. Bake 1 hour.
12. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan.
13. Finish cooling on a rack.
14. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing and serving.

Yields: 1 loaf.

Did You Know? . . . .

Did you know that in 2004 a song called Rhubarb Pie was released by John Fogerty of the well known band Creedence Clearwater Revival?


Spicy Rhubarb Raisin Cookies

Warm fragrant spices flavor these rhubarb, oatmeal, and raisin cookies.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter
1 egg
1 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. raisins
1 c. oats
1 c. rhubarb, cooked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
3. In large bowl, cream together butter, egg, and sugar.
4. In medium bowl, c salt, and spices.
5. Add to creamed mixture.
6. Add raisins, oats, and rhubarb.
7. Mix until well combined.
8. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
9. Bake 15 minutes, or until light brown.
10. Cool slightly.
11. Remove cookies to wire rack.
12. Cool completely.

Yields: 5 dozen.

Table of Contents

Rhubarb Delights Cookbook

Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................... 20

Rhubarb Information:

Rhubarb Botanical Classification......................................................... 21-22

Rhubarb Cultivation and Gardening............................................... 23-26

Rhubarb Facts..................................................................................... 27-28

Rhubarb Folklore............................................................................... 29-30

Rhubarb History................................................................................. 31-32

Rhubarb Nutrition and Health.......................................................... 33-34

Rhubarb Poetry................................................................................... 35-44

Rhubarb Types................................................................................... 45-46

Recipe Sections:

Appetizers and Dips.......................................................................... 49-60

Beverages............................................................................................ 61-70

Breads and Rolls................................................................................ 71-92

Breakfasts.......................................................................................... 93-110

Cakes............................................................................................... 111-130

Candies............................................................................................ 131-134

Cookies............................................................................................ 135-150

Desserts........................................................................................... 151-170

Dressings, Sauces, and Condiments........................................... 171-188

Jams, Jellies, and Syrups.............................................................. 189-204

Main Dishes................................................................................... 205-218

Pies................................................................................................... 219-240

Preserving....................................................................................... 241-254

Salads.............................................................................................. 255-264

Side Dishes..................................................................................... 265-274

Soups............................................................................................... 275-290

Wines and Spirits.......................................................................... 291-304

Editorial Reviews

…“Rhubarb Delights Cookbook has an enormous variety of scrumptious recipes that promise to delight the palate and tantalize the taste buds. It features fascinating tidbits, including witty and factual information about the nutrition and cultivation of rhubarb.

The history and poetry that is included will intrigue and enchant the senses while enjoying the prose.”…

Mary Scripture-Smith

Graphic Designer

From the Publisher