Since the opening of the film The Testament of Ann Lee, there has been renewed curiosity about the utopian religion called the Shakers. Once established in the United States, the group was very successful during the 19th century. They planted and they reaped. They ate what foods they produced through communal labor. Shakers loved good food, and many of their recipes have been handed down to us. This one came via Saveur.com.
Sift together into a bowl. Use 2 knives to work butter and shortening into flour until it resembles coarse meal.
up to 5 Tbsp. ice water
Sprinkle in, stirring dough with a fork until it just begins to hold together. Press into a rough ball.
Divide dough into 2 balls, wrap both in plastic wrap, refrigerate 1 hour.
1 lb. rhubarb stalks, cut into 1″ pieces—1.25 cups sugar—4 Tbsp. Flour — 1⁄4 tsp. salt
Put these into a medium mixing bowl, then use your hands to toss together, and set aside – but not longer than 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into two 12″ rounds.
Fit one round into a 9″ pie plate, trim off excess. Add rhubarb mixture.
Cover pie with other round. Fold edges of dough under, crimp edges. Make 3–4 slits in top crust.
Bake 15 mins.
Lower heat to 350°F, bake until crust is golden, 25–30 mins.
Set aside to let cool 30+ mins 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 in September, 2026. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
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.
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.
Can you see the pinkish bits in the lower left and center bottom? This is the earliest that I remember seeing the Rhubarb emerge.
The GEP Dodge Library of Bennington, NH will again be hosting the Rhubarb Festival. The date will be Saturday, June 7th [always the first Saturday in June], beginning at 10 am and closing at 4 pm. Write it on your calendar, so you don’t forget!
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 May 6, 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.
June 1, 2024, will see the Bennington Rhubarb Festival in full swing at Sawyer Park, Bennington, New Hampshire. This year, the Library Trustees are running the Festival and many of the favorite elements of the event will be present: Pie and Bake Sale, Rhubarb Pie Contest, Rhubarb Store, Petting Zoo, Children’s Activity Tent, Story Walk, vendors, food, music, Rhubarb superlative contests, art contest, flower arrangements.
The Festival will open at 10 am and close at 3 pm at Sawyer Park, just off Route 202, behind ‘Harris’ Store’. Parking is free. Admission is free.
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.
We love rhubarb. At our house, pies and muffins and coffee cakes go into the freezer every Spring and Summer, to last into the Winter. This is one of our favorite coffee cakes, adapted from a recipe in the New York Times. Get the family involved: one person prepares the crumb, another prepares the wet mixture. One person prepares the batter, another prepares the fruit. Then everyone helps to assemble it for baking and everyone enjoys eating it!
A perfect Sunday breakfast with fruited yogurt and chicken sausages.
Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter a 9” springform pan. Serves 12-16
for the CRUMB: 1/3 cup dark brown sugar + 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + ½ teaspoon ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon salt + ½ cup/1 stick butter, melted ¾ cup all-purpose flour + 1 cup white whole wheat flour In a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl. Set aside THE CRUMB.
For the FRUIT: 16 oz [1#] rhubarb, sliced ½-inch thick ¼ cup sugar + 2 tsp cornstarch + ¾ tsp ground ginger Toss these ingredients together. Set aside THE FRUIT.
for the WET mixture: 1/3 cup plain yogurt OR sour cream 1 US Large [2 oz] egg + 1 egg yolk from a US Large egg 2 tsp vanilla extract In a small bowl, stir these ingredients together to form the ‘Wet Mixture.’ Set aside THE WET MIXTURE
for the BATTER: ½ cup all-purpose flour ½ cup white whole wheat flour + ¼ tsp salt 1/3 cup sugar + ½ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp baking powder Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix these ingredients together. 6 Tbsp softened butter + 1 Tbsp of above Wet Mixture Cut butter into 12 pieces. Add these to above. Mix on medium speed ’til flour is moistened. Increase speed, beat 30 seconds. ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz other ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz Add Wet Mixture in 2 batches, beating 20 secs after each addition, scraping down sides of bowl. Pour batter into pan.
to ASSEMBLE: Spoon rhubarb over batter. With your fingers, break/squeeze crumb mixture into big crumbs, ~½” -¾” in size. Sprinkle over rhubarb and cake.
Bake 45-55 min until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (it might be moist from rhubarb). Cool ~10 mins, then remove collar of pan. Cool completely 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 March 12, 2024. If you click the ‘Subscribe’ button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month for free.
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 2024!
How many species of rhubarb are there?
19
What is the coldest growth zone in which rhubarb will thrive?
Zone 2
What common grain shares a family with rhubarb?
Buckwheat
What is the Genus name of rhubarb?
Rheum
How tall can Rheum officinale [garden rhubarb] grow?
2 meters = 6.5 feet
How many calories in 2/3 cup of rhubarb?
20
What part of the rhubarb plant should you never eat?
leaves
What toxin is in rhubarb leaves?
Oxalic acid
Rhubarb is high in what vitamin?
Vitamin K1
What do you do to a rhubarb plant to be able to harvest it all summer long?
Cut off the flower stalks
How long can a rhubarb plant live?
60+ years
Which soil nutrient does rhubarb love the best?
Nitrogen
Where is the origin of rhubarb?
Central Asia.
Which ancient Asian civilization believed that the first humans grew from a rhubarb plant?
Persia
Which of these ancient civilizations used Rhubarb? Indus River or Mayan or Roman
Indus River
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 16, 2024. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
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