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/17th 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 23rd
When is National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day?
June 9th
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Did you know that January 23 is National Pie Day? ‘Invented’ in the 1970s, it is intended to honor a love of dessert pies. Why not use some of the rhubarb that is in the freezer to make a special pie?
When my husband had his first teaching job, in Hudson, NH, his colleague Norma was a really good baker. She shared a few of her recipes with me, and here is her really good pie.
Line a 9″ pie plate with the pie dough of choice. Cut enough 1″ pieces of rhubarb to fill the pie crust to the top. Beat together 2 eggs, 2 cups sugar, and 4 Tablespoons flour, and pour over rhubarb. Bake 1 hour at 350F. Let cool a bit before serving.
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 February 20, 2025. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Planning is well underway for this year’s festival, less than a month away! The Library Trustees and Staff have been working hard, in this the first year that the Rhubarb Festival has been run by the group. In the past, the planning was done by interested friends; then by the Town’s Recreation Committee; then by the Friends of the Library [that’s an official, separate entity]. This year, each Trustee has a ‘portfolio’ and they are grateful for support from the Town of Bennington, the Select Board, the Town Administrator, and generous sponsorship from local businesses. Proceeds from the Rhubarb Festival benefit the Library’s Building Fund.
On Saturday June 1 — always the 1st Saturday of June — more than a dozen vendors will assemble at Sawyer Park in the early morning to set up their tents. They will be selling a variety of wares, with many items being rhubarb-themed. The Festival starts at 10 am, so no early-birds please.
When the gates open, parking for patrons is free. Select-man Tony Parisi will supervise the incoming cars, along with his sons. Visitors will enter the fair-ground through the Welcome Tent. There they will encounter the Rhubarb General Store, dedicated to all things Rhubarb. Purchase jams or relishes or rhubarb soda. Want to grow your own rhubarb? Ready-to-plant crowns will be on sale, as well as fertilizer to help them grow. Just want enough rhubarb to make a pie at home? Stalks will be sold in bundles. Also on offer will be raffle tickets for items from vendors, for gift cards from local businesses, and a Rhubarb Pie Gift Basket filled with everything you could need to make a pie — including a rhubarb plant.
For the children, there will be the Petting Area on top of the hill, where Glory Be! and Dollar Shy Farms will show various animals. There will be a Story Walk, featuring the book Rhubarb by Stephen Cosgrove. A Children’s Activity Tent, staffed by the Craig Family, is always a hit. The Rhubarb Trivia activity will be hosted by Haley Tramposh. And don’t forget the Hollering Contest to be held on the hill by the flag pole.
For everyone, there will be food — from Becky’s Pies to Mama’s On The Run. And how about some Rhubarb-flavored cotton candy? Of course, many people attend for the Rhubarb Pie! The Friends of the Library run the the Bake Table, where pies and other Rhubarb delights will be on sale — including the winning pies from the Baking Contest. Get there early — the pies sell out fast. Also on offer will be books for all ages, and bags to tote them away.
Contests have their own tent, showing Rhubarb stalks and leaves of superlative size, as well as flower arrangements, Rhubarb-themed art, and photography. The Contest Book will be available at the Library and on line at the Library’s website. In addition, the Pie Baking Contest, sponsored by the King Arthur Baking Company, will begin at 10 am at Sawyer Park. The Select Board members usually have the serious job of deciding which is the best pie by an amateur, and which is the best by a professional baker. Contestants should submit their 100% Rhubarb Pies by 9:30 that morning. The Rhubarb Wine Contest will be judged the night before.
And speaking of wine, if you thought that Rhubarb was only for dessert, you should visit the Drink Your Rhubarb booth. From noon to 3:30 pm, you can sample rhubarb beverages to take you from breakfast to lunch to dinner. Expand your knowledge, and find a new favorite beverage.
A musical play-list by Peter Martel will be heard during the day, and at 4 pm live music will begin on the Music Stage at the Park. Select Board member Tom James has arranged for THE EYES OF AGE to kick things off before turning the stage over to THE WHITE MOUNTAIN ROUNDERS at 6:30 pm.
There’s something for everyone at the Bennington Rhubarb Festival! See you on June 1st at Sawyer Park, off Route 202.
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 4, 2024. If you click the Subscribe button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
In England, more so than the US, Rhubarb is eagerly anticipated in the Spring. The plant is grown commercially, especially in the Rhubarb Triangle of West Yorkshire and their singular product is ‘forced rhubarb.’ Forced to do what? you ask. I will explain.
The plants are grown in the fields for two years, just like all Rhubarb. In November, when they are dormant, the roots are transplanted into low heated sheds, protected from the weather. Months before the soil warms in the rest of the country, the Rhubarb begins to sprout. The sheds are completely dark, sometimes illuminated by red light bulbs or candles. In the warm, nitrogen-rich soil, the plants grow so fast that you can hear them!
Forced Rhubarb with its bright red stalks and weird leaves.
Forcing Rhubarb makes it available for sale out of season. Thus it is in the markets from December to April. Forced Rhubarb leaves are pale green, due to a lack of chlorophyll from growing in the dark. The stalks are red. This product is prized for its sweetness [leading to the mistaken idea that red field-grown Rhubarb of any sort is sweeter than green Rhubarb], and its tenderness. After the last harvest, the plants are dug up and put in the compost pile.
This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival. The Festival 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 May 7, 2024. If you click the Subscribe button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Can you see them — those pink leaf buds pushing up through the soil? This is the earliest that I can remember seeing new growth, a full three weeks before last year. [Don’t try to tell me that the climate isn’t changing!] Usually the Rhubarb Patch is covered by at least a foot of snow in mid-March, but we had a mild winter.
As the leaves unfurl and the stalks grow taller, it is time to watch for flower buds. It is good to locate those early. Why? I like to dig out the roots that are flowering, to thin out the bed. The roots that are removed are sold to benefit the Library Building Fund or moved to another part of the garden where they will have more room.
Can Rhubarb Pie be far behind? Yum.
This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival. The 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 April 9, 2024. If you click the Subscribe button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Rhubarb is not only for dessert! Its tartness pairs well with all sorts of foods, from beef to turkey to pork to meat. And then there is fish: in France and England, it is typical to pair tart fruits with ‘fatty’ fish such as mackerel and salmon. The first time I sold this relish at the Rhubarb Festival’s “Rhubarb Store”, the attendants bought a jar and ate it on hot dogs from a vendor. They proclaimed it to be ‘the BEST!” and they bought some more.
Halibut topped with Rhubarb-Onion Relish is served with asparagus and farro.
This delicious condiment appears in Marion Cunningham’s, The Supper Book. The author recommends serving the relish cold on hot meat.
Rhubarb-Onion Relishmakes 3 cups
2 c rhubarb, chopped 2 c. onions, chopped 1 c. vinegar 1 ½ tsp salt 2 c. light-brown sugar ½ tsp ground cloves ½ tsp ground allspice ½ tsp ground cinnamon
Combine everything in a heavy pot. Heat to a boil, turn down to a simmer. Cook 45 minutes until thicker. Put into jars and cool before twisting on the lids. Fresh, it will keep in the ‘frige for a week.
For longer storage, spoon hot relish into canning jars [I like to use the 1/2-cup size for relishes] with 2-part lids and process in a hot water bath 15 minutes.
This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival. The Festival was begun 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 April 9, 2024. If you click the Subscribe button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Want the taste of Rhubarb Pie without the fuss of a pie crust? For the crust-averse, nothing beats a pan of Rhubarb Crumble Bars!
I dare say there are many variations on this recipe [called Rhubarb Crunch, Rhubarb Bars, et al], but mine is from a cookbook compiled in 1976. That year the nation was celebrating its bicentennial, and many women’s groups put out a cookbook to mark the occasion. One such was the Carlisle Junior Civic Club, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where my parents lived. This is the recipe of Mrs K.E. Gephart, Sr for her Rhubarb Crunch:
Mrs. Gephart said, “This is a different way to prepare rhubarb and much better than rhubarb pie!”
9” square pan, 8-9 servings
9×13” pan, 18-24 servings
Set oven to 350F
1 c. sifted flour ¾ c uncooked rolled oats 1 c brown sugar, packed ½ c/1 stick butter, melted 1 tsp cinnamon
2 c. white whole wheat flour 1½ c. uncooked rolled oats 1½ c brown sugar, packed 1 c/2 sticks butter, melted 2 tsp cinnamon
Mix together until crumbly. Divide mixture in two equal portions. Pat ½ of mixture into a greased pan.
4 c. diced rhubarb
8 c. diced rhubarb
Distribute evenly over crumbs.
1 c. sugar 2 Tbsp cornstarch 1 c. water 1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ c. sugar 3 Tbsp cornstarch 1½ c. water 2 tsp vanilla extract
Combine these in a small pan. Cook, stirring, ’til thick and clear. Pour over rhubarb in pan.
½ crumb mixture
½ crumb mixture
Distribute evenly over rhubarb.
Bake 45-60 mins until bubbly.
Whipped cream
Whipped cream OR ice cream
Cool briefly, cut in squares. Serve plain or with topping.
This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival. The festival started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund and all things Rhubarby.
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.
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