Tag Archives: Rhubarb Crumble

Seasonal Foods: Rhubarb and Sour Cherry Crumble

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Rhubarb’s sour stem is a favorite in desserts. The root is a herbal remedy for digestive issues.

Rhubarb grows in many northern gardens and announces the warm days of late spring. Traditionally, this sour stem was used for desserts with lots of sugar. The root was used in herbal remedies for digestive issues. This rhubarb recipe has no sugar or grains and is safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, GAPS or a modified Paleo Diet.

This recipe is a rework of a seasonal food recipe called Rhuburb Crumble. Rhubarb coming up in my garden is a reminder for me to clean out my freezers of any frozen fruit from last year. This year I am looking to use up some sour cherries.

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Cut the rhubarb stems into thin, diagonal slices and simmer in butter and salt until tender.

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Add the frozen sour cherries or other frozen fruit from last year’s harvest.

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Add the raisins at the end of cooking to help soak up the juices from the rhubarb and sour cherries.

Rhubarb Filling
6-8 garden rhubarb stems, diagonal slices
2-3c garden sour cherries, frozen
1c organic raisins
1/4c butter
large pinch sea salt
1tsp organic cinnamon, ground (optional)
In a large sauce pan, simmer the rhubarb in butter and salt until soft. Add the sour cherries and warm through. Add the raisins and cook briefly to soak up the juices from the rhubarb and sour cherries. Add the cinnamon. Taste the mixture and add more raisins for a sweeter filling, if desired.

Nut Crumble
1c dried organic coconut, shredded
1c organic sunflower seeds, whole
1c organic pecans, whole
large pinch of sea salt
1tsp organic cinnamon, ground
1/4c organic butter, cut into cubes
In a food processor, grind the coconut, sunflower seeds, pecans, salt and cinnamon into a coarse flour. To make the crumble, add the butter and mix briefly. Do not over mix. Pour the rhubarb filling into a buttered baking dish. Smooth the top down and lightly press the mixture into the dish. Top with the nut crumble and lightly press down the topping. Cook at 300F for 30-40 minutes. Do not overcook the nut topping or it will have a burnt taste. Refrigerate before eating with ice cream.

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Pour the rhubarb filling into a buttered baking dish. Looks delicious!

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Top with the nut crumble and lightly press down the topping.

If you don’t have a favorite ice cream recipe, here are two of mine:
Coconut Ice Cream
Walnut Maple Ice

Seasonal Foods: Rhubarb Crumble

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Rhubarb grows like a weed in my garden — but I’m not a fan of this sour stem — until now!

This recipe is safe for someone on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.

One of the wonders of eating local foods is looking forward to those seasonal foods that come just once a year. In the last few weeks, I have been enjoying asparagus. I only eat asparagus in the spring when it is in season. I look forward to local asparagus every year and eat my fill. Of course, loaded with butter, sea salt and garlic!

Rhubarb is another story altogether. Rhubarb grows like a weed in my garden. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of this earlier seasonal food. The biggest thing I dislike about rhubarb is the tradition of loading this stem with sugar to make it edible. Since sugar doesn’t even come into my household, that’s not an option. As I contemplated the bounty of rhubarb on my kitchen counter, the answer came to me. My sweetest dried fruit in storage is raisins.

This is the recipe I came up with. My girls liked it so much they asked me to make more the next day. This “dessert” can also be eaten as a healthy “breakfast”. It is good with raw cream or raw whipping cream.

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It’s great to be able to eat fresh foods from the garden while using storage foods from my pantry.

Rhubarb Filling
6-8c garden rhubarb stems, sliced on the diagonal
1/4c organic butter
1-2 large pinches sea salt
1c organic raisins

Topping
1c organic walnuts
1c organic sunflower seeds
1/4c organic butter, cut into small cubes
1/2tsp sea salt
1tsp organic cinnamon, ground
1/2tsp organic allspice. ground

Melt the butter and sea salt in a stainless steel pot. Add the sliced rhubarb and cover. Cook at a very low temperature and stir occasionally to avoid sticking. Water will start coming out of the rhubarb. When this happens add the raisins. Soften and cook the rhubarb and raisins for about 15-20 minutes, then remove from heat. The sweetness of the raisins will contrast the sour of the rhubarb nicely.

In a food processor, lightly grind the walnuts and sunflower seeds together. Add the sea salt, spices and butter and lightly grind until the butter is incorporated with the nuts and seeds. The consistency should be crumbly. Do not over grind.

Pour the rhubarb filling into a 12″x12″ glass baking tray and flatten. Add the topping over the filling and lightly flatten. Cook at 300?F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. This dessert is good warm or cold. Add a big pad of butter, if eaten warm, or for breakfast.

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Rhubarb Crumble is good warm or cold. If eaten warm add a big pad of butter. If eaten cold, try some raw cream or raw whipping cream.