The Kitchen Garden Rhubarb Season

There are few crops more generous than rhubarb. A well-established crown will reward you with armfuls of sharp, rosy stems from late March through to July, and if you force a few crowns under a bucket in January, you can be pulling tender, vivid pink sticks while the rest of the garden is still asleep. The secret is to stop harvesting by the end of July, letting the plant rebuild its reserves for next year. After that, leave the leaves to die back naturally — they are toxic, so keep them away from the compost heap if you have livestock or curious pets.

If you are facing a glut, do not panic. Rhubarb is one of the most versatile ingredients in the kitchen garden, equally at home in sweet crumbles, refreshing cordials, and spiced chutneys that will see you through the winter. The following recipes are the ones I return to year after year, and they are written for the sort of quantities a single mature crown will produce.

A Classic Rhubarb Crumble with a Difference

This is the recipe that converts rhubarb sceptics. The trick is to keep the filling sharp rather than cloying, so resist the urge to add more sugar than specified.

• For the filling: 800g rhubarb, cut into 3cm lengths; 100g caster sugar; finely grated zest of 1 orange; 1 tsp ground ginger.
• For the crumble: 150g plain flour; 75g cold unsalted butter, cubed; 50g demerara sugar; 50g porridge oats; a pinch of salt.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan (200°C conventional, gas mark 6). Toss the rhubarb with the caster sugar, orange zest, and ginger in a shallow baking dish. In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs, then stir in the demerara, oats, and salt. Scatter evenly over the fruit and bake for 35–40 minutes, until the topping is golden and the juices bubble at the edges. Serve warm with custard, clotted cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you are using forced rhubarb, reduce the caster sugar to 75g — it is naturally sweeter and more delicate.

Rosy Rhubarb Cordial

A bottle of homemade rhubarb cordial is liquid sunshine. It captures that impossible pink colour and the clean, tart flavour that shops simply cannot replicate. Dilute it with sparkling water for a grown-up soft drink, or add a splash to gin, vodka, or prosecco.

• 1kg rhubarb, roughly chopped
• 1 litre water
• 500g caster sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 strips of orange peel, pared with a peeler (no white pith)

Put the rhubarb, water, lemon juice, and orange peel in a large pan. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for 20 minutes until the fruit has collapsed completely. Strain through a double layer of muslin set over a bowl — do not squeeze the pulp, or the cordial will turn cloudy. Return the liquid to the pan with the sugar and heat gently, stirring until dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes, then pour into sterilised bottles. It keeps in the fridge for two weeks, or freeze in ice cube trays and defrost as needed. Dilute one part cordial to five parts water or sparkling water.

Spiced Rhubarb and Apple Chutney

This chutney is a revelation with a sharp Cheddar, a pork pie, or cold roast ham. It mellows beautifully after a month in the jar, so make it in June and open the first pot at Christmas.

• 1kg rhubarb, chopped
• 500g cooking apples, peeled, cored, and diced
• 500g onions, finely chopped
• 250g raisins
• 400g demerara sugar
• 500ml cider vinegar
• 1 tsp mixed spice; 1 tsp ground ginger; 1 tsp salt

Put everything in a large, heavy-based pan. Bring to a simmer, then cook uncovered for 1½–2 hours, stirring often to prevent sticking, until the mixture is thick and glossy and a wooden spoon drawn through leaves a clear channel. Pot into hot, sterilised jars and seal immediately. This makes about four 500g jars. Leave to mature for at least four weeks before eating. If you prefer a smoother chutney, blitz half the mixture with a stick blender before potting.

Freezing, Forcing, and a Few Kitchen Garden Notes

Rhubarb freezes brilliantly, so you need never waste a stem. Cut it into lengths, spread on a tray lined with greaseproof paper, and freeze until solid before bagging up. Alternatively, stew it gently with a little sugar and freeze in portion-sized tubs for instant crumble filling. For forcing, cover two or three crowns with a large bucket or terracotta pot in early January, blocking out all light. Harvest the pale, tender stems by candlelight — a traditional touch that genuinely makes a difference to the flavour.

Good varieties to seek out include Timperley Early for forcing, Victoria for all-round reliability, and Champagne for exceptionally sweet, pink stems. Do not harvest from newly planted crowns in their first year. Mulch with well-rotted compost in autumn, and divide congested crowns every five years. With a little care, a single rhubarb patch will keep your kitchen supplied for decades — and a glut is simply an invitation to make cordial, chutney, and crumble in equal measure.