Category: Bennington, New Hampshire

Rhubarb Trivia, part 2

December 16th, 2025

Some families like to play games together during the holidays. But Monopoly takes forever and Scrabble is not for everybody. How about introducing Rhubarb Trivia to the fun? Print up this fact sheet and distribute it so people can study. Then hold a contest. Winner gets an extra helping of Rhubarb Pie or Rhubarb Pudding or Rhubarb Crumble Bars. At last year’s Rhubarb Festival, there was a Trivia Contest — get ready for Festival 2026!

What did the ancient Greeks call rhubarb?	The Barbarian Plant
Who thought he brought rhubarb back from the new World? Columbus or Da Gama or Cabot	Columbus
When did rhubarb roots and seeds arrive in Western Europe?	1600s/17^th century
Which country was the first to use rhubarb for food?	England
Where in England is The Rhubarb Triangle? *	West Yorkshire
When was rhubarb introduced to North America?	1770
By whom?	Benjamin Franklin sent rhubarb from Europe to John Bartram in Philadelphia
Is rhubarb a fruit or a vegetable?	A vegetable
Which state has rhubarb as their official State Fruit?	New York State
Half of all commercial rhubarb in the US is from which * state?	Washington State
When is National Rhubarb Pie Day?	January 23^rd
When is National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day?	June 9^th
What is a common nickname for Rhubarb?	Pie plant
What is another common nickname for Rhubarb?	Neighbor plant
How long ago were the Chinese using rhubarb medicinally*	5000 years
What part of rhubarb is medicinal?	The root
What were rhubarb roots used for in medicine?	As a laxative

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, which was started in 2013 to benefit the library Building Fund. If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH, 03442, USA.

The next installment of this blog will be posted on January 13, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Giving Thanks for Rhubarb

November 18th, 2025

At Thanksgiving, I think it is nice to serve foods that were produced locally, that reflect New England traditions, and that preferably originate in our household. In Sarah Josepha Hale‘s novel Northwood, a chapter is given up to describing the family’s Thanksgiving feast. The matriarch takes pride and pleasure in pointing out which foods on the table were made at home.

Rhubarb is one of the most local foods you can serve, especially if you have it in your own garden. Of course by Thanksgiving it will not still be producing stalks, but many rhubarb products can still be on your table.

1] At breakfast, serve a traditional cornbread slathered with Rhubarb Jam. How about a Rhubarb Coffee Cake or Quick Bread?

2] At the dinner table, serve a Rhubarb-Onion Relish along side the usual cranberry sauce.

3] Surprise your guests with a Rhubarb Wine as a dinner beverage. If you didn’t make your own, you might find some producers on line who ship to New Hampshire. Make sure that you get a drier wine for dinner, since sweeter wines are better suited for dessert.

4] Serve Rhubarb Baked Beans as a side dish at dinner or for an easy-to-prepare dinner the night before.

5] For dessert — what else?! — Rhubarb pie, made from frozen Rhubarb or put into the freezer assembled but unbaked last Summer.

6] The next day, Rhubarb Pie for breakfast, and a Rhubarb relish on your turkey sandwich.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your’s!

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on December 16, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Planting Rhubarb

October 7th, 2025

Fall is a good time to plant rhubarb. The feed store won’t be selling roots at this time of year, but if a friendly neighbor wants to share, say “Yes, please!” You’ll want to plant it in a spot that gets lots of sun and where the soil is sandy, so it will be well-drained. You could even plant rhubarb in the flower bed, if that’s the best spot you have. Treat it like an ‘ornamental’.

How large the hole needs to be depends on the length of the root stock that you get. If the root is very large and has several clusters of stalks, then cut it up into smaller pieces before you plant. Cut into the root clump from top to bottom, being sure to include a cluster of stalks in each piece you remove. The roots could be from 5 inches to 12 inches long. so make sure that your holes are deeper than the root is long. If planting more than one root clump, then you need a hole for each one. Locate the holes 3 [three] feet [1 meter] apart — rhubarb leaves have quite a spread!

Put some manure in each hole, followed by a pint or two of water. Then position the root clump in the hole so that the top of it is a little lower than ground level. Fill the hole with soil, and tamp it down with your foot. This will make a ‘well’ around the plant which you will now fill with water. Then surround the new planting with more manure or at least good compost. Put some sort of marker to remind you what you have planted there — you don’t want to mow the new plants over next Spring.

If your area is having a drought, water the newly-planted rhubarb every other day, but not too much lest you rot them. If you are getting regular rain, you will not have to water. The plants will look peaked, and the leaves will be limp, but that is as much end-of-season die-back as it is transplantation shock. After the killing frost, top-dress with manure again, and leave them until Spring. There is no need to cut back the stalks at the end of summer, nor to remove them. Their decay will add nutrients to the soil.

The next Summer, let them grow undisturbed. Do not harvest any stalks. This will help the roots to build up lots of energy for growing. The second summer, harvest one or two stalks from each new plant. At the third summer, the plant will be well-established and you may harvest at will, being sure to leave at least two stalks on each root crown.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on November 18, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Rhubarb Quick-Bread

September 9th, 2025

Rhubarb is not only for pie! We frequently enjoy rhubarb as an ingredient on the breakfast menu. In addition to muffins and fritters, as seen in previous posts, here we have a quick-bread with Rhubarb. [A quick-bread is made without yeast, leavened with baking powder and baking soda]

Here’s a tip: Mix the batter the night before, put it in the prepared pan, and bake it first thing in the morning for a head-start on your day. Old-style cooks will tell you that you can’t do that, because the batter won’t rise. They are thinking of the old ‘single-acting’ baking powder that had to be baked right away. Because this recipe is made with modern double-acting baking powder plus baking soda [due to the acidity of the rhubarb], it will begin to rise a little when mixed with the wet ingredients, then do its major rising in the oven.

Served with pan-cooked ham and yogurt with diced watermelon, the Rhubarb Quick-Bread is a star at the summer breakfast table.

one 8½x4½” loaf/ 3 small loaves: original	one 8½x4½” loaf/ 3 small loaves: adapted	Heat oven 350F. Butter then flour pan
8 Tbsp/113 g unsalted butter—-1 cup/200 g sugar—- 1 Tbsp fresh-grated orange zest—-⅓ cup whole-milk yogurt	7 Tbsp/100 g unsalted butter—-¾ cup/150 g sugar —-1 Tbsp fresh-grated orange zest—-⅓ cup plain, low-fat yogurt	Melt butter. Whisk these ingredients together until well combined.
2 large eggs	2 two-oz eggs = 3.6 oz without shells	Whisk in eggs.
1¾ cup/223 g all-purpose flour—-1 tsp baking powder—-½ tsp baking soda—-½ tsp kosher salt	1 cup/223 g King Arthur Golden Flour—- ½ c white flour—1¼ tsp baking powder—½ tsp baking soda–½ tsp kosher salt	In a separate bowl, whisk these together.
1½ cups rhubarb, cut ¼” dice–flour mixture	1½ cups rhubarb, cut ¼” dice–flour mixture	Add these to butter mixture and fold until combined.
¼ cup rhubarb, cut in ¼” pieces—-2 T sugar	¼ cup rhubarb, cut in ¼” pieces—-1 T sugar	Put batter in prepared pan and smooth top. Stir these together and sprinkle on top of batter.
		Bake until golden brown and set, 55-60 mins. [skewer in center comes out with moist crumbs attached]
Icing/10X sugar	icing/10x sugar	Let cool in pan 5 mins, then tip out of pan. Turn right side up, dust with powdered sugar.
1 of 8 slices: 343 calories… 13 g fat… 1 g fiber… 5 g protein… 52 g carb.., 56 mg Calcium… 268 mg Sodium…	1 of 8 slices: 274 calories… 11.5 g fat… 2 g fiber… 5 g protein… 56 g carb.., 56 mg Calcium… 210 mg Sodium…

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted in October, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Rhubarb Fritters

August 12th, 2025

Fritters were a staple of the New England cuisine in the old days. They could be mixed together quickly to serve at breakfast with maple syrup. When served as the first course at dinner (also with maple syrup), they were a good way for the clever cook to kill the appetites of children before the meat course arrived. Rather than adding more water to the stew to make it go further, she would add another fritter to the plate of a hungry adolescent or husband.

Corn fritters are good, as are apple fritters. Here the ingredient to add is Rhubarb, the random bits adding a delicious pop of flavor. The recipe is from Nancy Adams, writing in the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.

3 dozen small ones — Original Recipe	20 with 1.5 T scoop — Adapted Recipe	Cast iron skillet
1 c flour+++1 c sugar	½ c King Arthur Golden Flour +++1/3 c sugar	Whisk together in a bowl.
1 egg yolk from a US Large ++++++++ ¼ c whole milk++ 1½ tsp butter, melted	1 egg yolk++++++++ + ¼ c skimmed milk++ 1½ tsp butter, melted	In another bowl, whisk these together. Add gradually to dry ingredients, stirring until smooth.
2 c finely chopped rhubarb++++++++ 2 Tbsp sugar	1 c finely chopped rhubarb++++++++ 1 Tbsp sugar	Stir together to coat, stir gently into batter. Done night before
2 egg whites	1 egg white	Whip until stiff, fold into batter.
1 c Canola/ corn oil, 1” deep	Canola/corn oil/PAM — just a little	Heat oil in skillet. Scoop in batter.
		Cook on both sides. Drain on paper towels.
Maple syrup or 10X sugar	Maple syrup or 10X sugar	Serve hot.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on 9 September,2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

What to expect at Rhubarb Festival ’25

May 27th, 2025

On Saturday June 7, the 2025 Rhubarb Festival will be held in Bennington, NH. This festival benefits the Building Fund of our town’s G.E.P. Dodge Library. If you have ever visited our dear little library, you know that it is in need of expansion — we lack an entrance that is ADA compliant; ditto a restroom that patrons are permitted to use; a larger children’s room would be great; as well as storage space for our media and book collection. But I digress.

Again this year, the Festival is being sponsored by the Library Trustees, under the able leadership of volunteer Melissa Clark. The Festival will be held at Sawyer Park from 10 am to 4 pm, and there will be a LOT going on. The tents of vendors of all sorts will dot the field. The petting zoo and children’s activity tent will be set up on the hill, under the auspices of the Osienski Family. Deb Davidson will be running the popular Rhubarb General Store, and the Rhubarb Contests [find the Contest Booklet at the Library and at Edmund’s Store] will be held in their own tent, organized by Colleen Allen. Get to the Rhubarb Bake & Book Sale early, so you can take home a pie, other goodies, and something to read while you eat before they run out. Laurie MacKeigan, Melissa Searles, and other Friends of the Library will be there to assist you.

Food trucks will feed you and you can even “Drink Your Rhubarb” at the booth of that name. The Rhubarb Pie Contest will be judged at 10 am, while the New England Rhubarb Wine Contest will have been adjudicated the day before. Visit the non-profit groups, such as the Conservation Commission, the Pierce School PTO, and the Historical Society, who will have booths to supply you with information. Historical re-enactors from World War II will be on hand and in costume at their encampment. Test your knowledge at the Rhubarb Trivia game with Jill Wilmoth. And if nothing else, come see the new Town Fire Truck.

Admission and parking are free, assisted by the Bennington Fire Department. Start the summer by attending a home-made festival with a small-town feel — come celebrate all things Rhubarb-y at the Bennington, NH Rhubarb Festival, June 7.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, which began in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted in June, 2025, after this year’s Festival. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Rhubarb Baked Beans

May 6th, 2025

Around here at this time of year, people are opening their vacation cabins and getting ready for Summer. That, of course, means cook-outs and backyard parties, when a popular dish to contribute is a pot of baked beans. Did you know that you can add rhubarb?

Midwest Living offers this unusual recipe, saying, “No one at the barbecue or potluck will believe it when you confess the secret ingredient in these sweet-and-savory baked beans. In addition to rhubarb, powdered ginger and bacon add big-time flavor.” I can’t wait to try this for the Memorial Day cook-out.

Sv 8	Preheat oven to 350°F.
4 slices thick-sliced bacon, chopped	In a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp; remove with slotted spoon.
1½ cups chopped rhubarb +++++ 1 cup chopped sweet onion	In reserved drippings, cook these ~2 mins or until tender.
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger ++ ½ tsp salt	Stir in salt and ginger; cook 1 minute.
two 15-oz cans navy beans ++++ 8 oz canned tomato sauce ++++++ ½ cup unpacked brown sugar ++++ 2 tsp yellow mustard +++++ cooked bacon	Rinse and drain the beans. Stir in all these ingredients. Pour into a 1½-quart baking dish. Cover and bake 25 mins.
	Uncover; bake 20 mins, until surface loses wet appearance.

I think I will contribute a few servings of these beans to the Rhubarb Bake Sale at the Rhubarb Festival…

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on June 3, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Rhubarb-Roasted Salmon

August 27th, 2024

Tart fruits have long been paired with fatty or oily fish for a real taste sensation. Have you tried using Rhubarb instead of lemon? This recipe is from Melissa Clark at the New York Times who says, “In this speedy, rosy weeknight dinner, a tart ginger-rhubarb sauce lends brightness to rich, buttery roasted salmon fillets… The sauce should strike a balance between tangy and sweet. For the pinkest, prettiest sauce, seek out the reddest rhubarb stalks you can find.”

4 servings original recipe	2 servings my adaptation	Heat oven to 400F . Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
3 scallions, thinly sliced	2 scallions, thinly sliced	Take out 2 T, use remainder in next step
Sliced scallions ++++ 2 T granulated sugar ++++1 T rice wine vinegar +++++ ½ tsp grated fresh ginger ++++ pinch salt	Sliced scallions+++++ 1 T granulated sugar 1½ tsp rice wine vinegar ++++++ ½ tsp grated fresh ginger ++pinch salt	In a medium saucepan, combine these. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer until sugar has dissolved.
6 oz /1⅓ cups rhubarb, trimmed, sliced 1” thick	3 oz /2/3 cups rhubarb, trimmed, sliced 1” thick	Add rhubarb. Cover pan, and cook, stirring at whiles, until rhubarb is just tender, ~5 mins.
		Take pan off heat and, use a spoon or fork to mash rhubarb ino a chunky purée.
Sugar/vinegar/ginger/salt	Sugar/vinegar/ginger/salt	Taste, adjust flavors for a balance between sweet, tangy and salty. Divide in 2 equal portions.
four 4-5 oz skin-on salmon fillets ++++salt and pepper++++ 3 T unsalted butter, cubed ++½ of rhubarb sauce	two 4 oz skin-on salmon fillets ++++salt and pepper ++++ 1 tsp unsalted butter, cubed ++½ of rhubarb sauce	Put fish skin-side-down on baking sheet. Season lightly. Spread most of the rhubarb mixture on fish. Top evenly with butter. Roast 8-13 mins, or until just cooked.
The 2 T sliced scallions +++ Red-pepper flakes +++++ rhubarb sauce	The 2 T sliced scallions+++ Red-pepper flakes+++++ rhubarb sauce	Garnish fillets, serve with remaining rhubarb sauce.
	1/3 c peas per serving	Plate with peas.
529 calories… 35 g fat. 1 g fiber… 41 g protein 10 g carb… 65 mg Calcium… 631 mg Sodium	295 calories… 11 g fat. 4 g fiber….. 32.5 g protein… 10 g carbs… 65 mg Calcium… 315 mg Sodium

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on September 24, 2024. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Rhubarb Jam

July 30th, 2024

Since sugar became a common kitchen staple the late 19th century, one of the usual ways to save summer fruits for the winter was to add sugar. Some fruits, like peaches, can be canned as halves or slices, but rhubarb turns to mush when cooked, so pieces do not can well. Happily, there is Rhubarb Jam: tart and sweet, it is delicious on toast or English Muffins. In the dead of winter, this jam will remind you of June. At this year’s Rhubarb Festival there was a contest for the best Rhubarb Jam — spread the goodness!

Such a meal: bacon, yogurt with berries, and English muffin with butter and Rhubarb Jam.

Rhubarb Jam, recipe from Wild Preserves by Joe Freitus

5 cups jam	need 1-cup canning jars + lids
2 pounds rhubarb stalks – the redder, the better ¾ cup water	Chop into 1/2-inch pieces, put in saucepan with water. Bring to boil, then simmer until tender
	Run through a food mill, measure 3 cups sauce.
3 cups sauce 4 c white sugar	Put sauce in a large saucepan with sugar, mix well, bring to a boil.
6 oz liquid fruit pectin	Stir in pectin, keep mixture boiling 1 minute. Take off heat.
	Skim off any foam, pour into hot, sterilized jelly jars and seal with canning lids.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on August 27, 2024. If you click the Subscribe button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Mousse

July 2nd, 2024

In the novel In Old Bellaire, set in the actual town of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the 1860s, a dinner party is held. Mary Johnson Dillon, the author, has the young ladies of the family hosting local friends and dashing officers from the near-by army post. The menu is described in detail and it includes one tantalizing item: “Grape Mousse” for dessert. My mother set out to track down this unheard-of delicacy and she found it: the ‘mousse’ was a frozen combination of grape jelly and whipped cream. In the summer, my mother would serve this to guests as an easy-to-prepare, make-ahead, delightful dessert.

One day recently, I thought to revive the old recipe, but having no grape jelly, I substituted Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam and it was a great success.

A Milano cookie was inserted before freezing for an added treat.

The recipe is simplicity itself:

Sv 4-6	ramekins or wine coupes
1 cup whipping cream	With electric beaters, whip until almost forming peaks.
4-6 oz strawberry-rhubarb jam	Add jam and continue to beat until incorporated.
	Distribute among ramekins or wine coupes. Freeze 2 hrs.

Try this old-time dessert this summer — you are sure to like it.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on July 30, 2024. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.