>>>>>Rhubarb ,, Hummmmmmmm<<<

Maxine Johnson surveys a table of rhubarb delights she created at her home in Vermillion, S.D. Johnson participated and was a winner in last year's Rhubarb Day, which was a fund-raiser for the W.H. Over Museum.

VERMILLION, S.D. -- Maxine Johnson's kitchen table was the perfect illustration of what a cook can do with a Midwestern staple.

Here was Rhubarb Sauce, Rhubarb Upside Down Cake, Rhubarb Ribbon Brunch Cake and Cinnamon Sugar Rhubarb Cake.

If that has your mouth watering and puckering at the same time, then you're an aficionado of a vegetable that perhaps ranks only second to zucchini for its abundance and variety of uses.


A Siouxland museum has again tapped that popular plant as part of its fund-raising activities with "Celebrate the Pie Plant II," which references the rhubarb as a pie plant.

W.H. Over Museum on the campus of the University of South Dakota hosted its first rhubarb-based food contest last May. The event was such a success that volunteers decided to reprise the fund-raiser this year from 1 to 3 p.m., June 3, at the museum's Sletwold Hall.

"Last year we were sampling the waters for this type of event and were pleasantly surprised by the turnout, fun, great food and new friends the event produced," explained Barb Gauger with the Friends of the W.H. Over Museum. "The pie-plant is a part of the American heritage/culture that the museum celebrates."

For Johnson, who serves as first vice president of the Friends Organization, the appeal of working with rhubarb goes back to growing up in Minnesota.

"You can eat it, drink it; it was always everywhere and you would pull it and dip it in sugar," she recalled. "It just speaks so much to the nostalgia of growing up."

Rhubarb originated in Asia over 2,000 years ago. It was initially cultivated for its medicinal qualities and was not until the 18th century that rhubarb was grown for culinary purposes. Rhubarb is commonly mistaken to be a fruit but is actually a close relative of garden sorrel, and is therefore a member of the vegetable family.

This year the museum event is in a larger space, but again, set up for the different categories. There will be an information center about rhubarb history and nutritional content.

Those wishing to enter items should arrive at the museum, 1110 Ratigen St., no later than 12:30 p.m. with samples of rhubarb dishes from the categories of Breads and Muffins; Cakes, Cobblers, Crisps and Crumbles; Jams, Jellies and Conserves; Pies; Sauces; Puddings and Exotics.

The rules are similar to last year. Folks can enter food with a copy of the recipe for the tasting ($5 per food entry) with the possibility of winning Best of Category. Prizes will be awarded.

"Tasters" will purchase tasting coupons and votes for $7.50 ($5 for Friends of Museum members which you can sign up for that day). That fee includes five voting tokens and five tastes. Additional tastes can be purchased at 50 cents each. Tasters can vote at any time during the event. Each category will have its own voting center.

"Shortly before 3 o'clock, we will announce the Best of Category winners," explained Gauger. "All recipes will be collected and published in a booklet available at the museum."

Last year's booklet, "Celebrate the Pie-Plant Recipes (Rheum rhubarbarum)" will be available at the event at a cost of $4. Leftover food will be sold by the piece. Index cards will be available for comments which will be distributed to the respective entrants.

Johnson reflected that she approached last year's competition as good fun and fastened the "largest rhubarb leaf" she could find to her head. She took home a first prize last year with her Rhubarb Jam.

"Rhubarb is a fairly fool-proof ingredient," she confessed. "I knew the jam would work because it's rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and Jell-O."

But there is a secret to a successful rhubarb dish, Johnson noted.

"The rhubarb has to be really fresh," she insisted. "It should also be kept in the refrigerator until ready to use; really, really clean and cut into the smallest pieces possible."

Not to be outdone, Gauger had her own creation to share -- a Pineapple Rhubarb Conserve.

"With almonds," she proudly pointed out. "It's like a marmalade except it has one high pectin, the rhubarb, and one low pectin, the pineapple."

Gauger also hoped the rhubarb event would capitalize on Garrison Keillor's recent Prairie Home Companion broadcast and his trademark Bebop-A-Reebop Rhubarb Pie.

"He used a huge backdrop of that and I would have loved to have him leave it here for our event," she said. "I had even thought about making him a rhubarb pie, but I was out of town then."

On the horizon, Gauger would like to enhance the "exotic" aspect of the rhubarb competition to include wine.

"Growing up in eastern Iowa, I remember hearing the German word for rhubarb, piestengel, which probably refers to its use in pies," she said. "But I remember rhubarb wine as well, so if all goes well, maybe next year we can open up a wine category."

All proceeds from the event will go to the new Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning system for the museum which will run in the neighborhood of $300,000, Johnson said. Of that amount, the museum has already borrowed $180,000.

The W. H. Over Museum is operated and funded by the Friends of the W. H. Over Museum which is responsible for all aspects of the museum. The group will also hold a bake sale from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on June 10 at the museum.

"We receive no state funding and no university funding," Gauger said. "We're just a bunch of volunteers who have a strong belief in the mission of the museum: using tangible links to the past to benefit and enlighten present and future generations."

Here is a recipe that appeared in the April/May 2006 issue of "Taste of Home" magazine that Johnson tried. Its creator is Marlys Haber of White, S.D. The recipe was a runner-up in the magazine's "Ready for Rhubarb" contest. Prep time is 30 minutes; baking time is 40 minutes.

Cinnamon-Sugar Rhubarb Cake

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar, divided

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

In large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, brown sugar and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat for two minutes. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Stir in the rhubarb.

Pour into greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm. Yield: 12-16 servings.

If using frozen rhubarb, measure rhubarb while still frozen, then thaw completely. Drain in a colander, but do not press liquid out.
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If you have never eaten "RHUBARB ,,,, YOU have no idea what you have missed, having grown up in IOWA my grandmother always had home canned rhubarb in the fruit celler and in the summer time FRESH RHUBARB PIE was like going to heaven and STRAWBERRY/RHUBARB PIE was HEAVEN and if we had enough ration stamps to buy extra sugar ,,, HOMEMADE ICECREAM on top of it was to die for,, BUT all you young kids have no idea what a ration stamp was,, I'll tell you all some time! ! ! ! !
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