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.
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.
Upon return from a trip in October, I could see that it was the end of the season for the Rhubarb Patch. The zucchini and tomato plants had already succumbed to a frost, yet the Rhubarb, though weakened, was still holding on.
The Rhubarb Patch, October 22.
So I did a triage session: by gently pinching each stalk, I could tell if it was firm or spongey. The spongey ones I left right there. Then I pulled each of the firm stalks and cut off their leaves and root ends. The leaves were left in the garden, to break down and return the nutrients to the soil.
The firm stalks were taken to the kitchen and cut into 1-inch pieces. Some I used to make a last batch of Rhubarb Puree to put in the pantry. Then I measured out 4 heaping cups of pieces and put them in a zipper bag in the freezer. That’s all you need to do to save rhubarb for later baking! Each bag would be enough for a full-sized rhubarb pie, or smaller amounts can be used for muffins deep into the winter.
Bags of rhubarb in the freezer.
In November, many gallons of manure will be put on the Rhubarb Patch, to nourish it for the next growing season. Goodnight, Rhubarb. Have a good sleep.
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 23, 2024. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Rhubarb is over-looked as a fruit in muffins. Why, I wonder. This muffin recipe is a favorite in our household. The recipe is very easy to prepare and the baked muffins freeze well. If you have only a few stalks of Rhubarb, not enough for a pie or other recipe, here is your solution. Unfortunately, I do not know where I got this recipe — wish I could give credit.
Rhubarb-Walnut Muffins
12 standard muffins/ 16-18 if using silicon cup-liners
Preheat oven to 350F
1½ c white whole wheat flour +++1¼ c white flour 1½ tsp baking powder+++ ½ tsp baking soda
Whisk together
1½ c diced rhubarb +++½ c. chopped walnuts or pecans
Add to dry ingredients and stir well to incorporate.
2/3 c vegetable oil +++¾ c brown sugar+++2 US large eggs = 2 oz each 1/3 c white sugar
Beat together until light.
1 c milk 1 tsp vanilla
Add to egg mixture and stir in. Add to dry ingredients and combine thoroughly.
Divide among muffin tins or liners
Bake ~15 mins or until toothpick tests well.
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.
The next blog installment will be posted on September 26, 2023. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
Two of the hottest topics at the Bennington, New Hampshire Rhubarb Festival are: where can I buy a pie? and who won the Rhubarb Pie baking contest? Rhubarb pie has been baked in England and the USA since the 1700s.
If you want to enter the Pie Baking Contest at the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, you should know how to make a pie. Here is a tutorial. But be aware: although the recipe is really quite simple, there are controversies at each stage of preparation.
In 2018, the Town Select Board turned out to judge the rhubarb pies. They were very serious about the job.
Crust: Lard or butter? Oil or shortening? Which fat to choose to make a flakey crust is a perennial debate. There is no hard and fast rule on this. Find a good recipe for a butter crust or a lard crust or a combination of the two. NOTE: for the Rhubarb Festival Pie Contest, you must prepare the crust with some sort of King Arthur Flour, and prove it by showing the bag that contained the flour.
Sugar: How much? To consult some well-known New England experts, Fannie Farmer’s Cookbook uses less sugar than Hayden Pearson in his Country Flavor’s Cookbook. My mother used so much sugar in her pie, that there was a layer of it on the bottom crust. Too much sugar negates the delightful tartness of rhubarb.
Thickener:Flour? Tapioca? Corn starch? Many, many opinions on this topic! Rhubarb is so juicy that it requires something to sop up the liquid. Read the link provided, and make up your own mind.
Egg: yes or no? Fannie Farmer says ‘yes.’ Hayden Pearson says ‘never.’ One egg helps to firm up the innards of the pie. Two eggs make it a custard.
Topping: Lattice or top crust or crumble? Full top crust is familiar. Lattice makes it look special. Crumble top is easy, though some say that is reserved for an apple pie.
From the Fannie Farmer CookbookFrom Pearson’s Country Flavor Cookbook
Here is my recipe, for what it is worth…
Serves 6-8
9” pie plate
dough for 1-2 pie crusts
Prepare dough. Roll out half and line pie plate.
4½ cups rhubarb
Cut in ½” slices and put in a large bowl.
1 cup sugar— 2 Tbsp King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour –1 two-oz egg
Add these all to rhubarb and stir well to incorporate all ingredients and to coat the rhubarb evenly. Scrape into lined pie plate.
Topping 1: Pie dough for 1 crust
Wet the edges of the bottom crust with water. Roll out into a large circle and lay it over the pie. Trim edges, then crimp the crusts together decoratively.
Topping 2: Pie dough for 1 crust
Roll out into a large rectangle and cut long strips, each ½’ wide. Lay strips over the pie and weave them over-and-under to form a lattice top.
Topping 3: ½ c rolled oats— ¼ c flour— ½ c brown sugar — ¼ tsp cinnamon —5 Tbsp butter
Put these in a food processor and pulse until they form crumbs. Scatter a healthy amount atop the pie. You may have some left over for another pie.
Heat oven to 400F. Bake pie 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 350F and bake 30 minutes until bubbling in the center. Cover with foil if browning too rapidly.
There are two categories in the Pie Contest at the Bennington Rhubarb Festival.
Section
Description
Prizes
1.King Arthur Baking Contest
Pie: > 100% rhubarb – no other fruits added >7-9” in diameter, >1 or 2 crust > in disposable pan > must show the opened bag of King Arthur Flour used to make the pie or show the UPC cut from the bag. > open to amateur bakers of all ages.
1st $75 gift card for King Arthur catalogue + Ribbon 2nd $50 catalogue gift card + Ribbon 3rd $25 catalogue gift card + Ribbon
2. Professional Baking Contest
>100% Rhubarb Pie any size >1 or 2 crust in disposable pan > open to bakers from restaurants and bakeries
1st Prize Rolling Pin
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 6. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.
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