Luscious and Local – Rhubarb Sauce: Stevia or Honey Sweetened

By Fairin, June 13, 2013
Rhubarb Sauce: Stevia or Honey Sweetened



Here are some of my secrets for making rhubarb sauce. Watch your pot of rhubarb so it doesn't boil over. Know that the sauce tastes sweeter after it cools. If you want a great red colored sauce use only the red parts of the stalk for that batch of sauce. To remove some of the oxalic acid cover the rhubarb chunks with boiling water. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes and then drain off the water and cook as usual. Removing some of the oxalic acid is an option, not necessarily a recommendation. It seems other nutrients would flush away as well.

Use this beautiful sauce: On pancakes, layered under sliced fresh strawberries, pack as a dessert in your brown bag lunch, serve over your steaming hot oatmeal, served over a scoop of yogurt, or serve along side a meat entree. This sauce freezes very well. So sometimes it goes into my brown bag lunch directly from the freezer! This way it doubles first as an ice pack and then as my dessert or snack.

A word of caution, I want to emphasize rhubarb leaves are toxic because they contain high amounts of oxalates. We have always cut them off as part of the harvesting process and dropped them in the compost bin on the way in to the kitchen. Keeping part of the leaf intact is helpful to keep the stalk fresh and avoids splitting and spoilage when rhubarb is sold at a market. Be sure to cut off all the leaf from each stalk and throw it in the compost or garbage.

Serves
4 – 8
Prep time
7 minutes
Cook time
20 minutes
Total time
27 minutes
Dietary
Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Meal type - Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Misc
Child Friendly, Freezable, Serve Cold
Ingredients

4 cups rhubarb stalks (cut stalks into 1 inch lengths)
1 cup water
stevia or honey (add sweetener of your choice to taste)

Directions
Step 1

Cut off any remains of the rhubarb leaf from the top of the stalk and trim the bottom of the stock where it was connected to the root. Wash the stalks and cut a few stalks at a time with a sharp knife.

Step 2

Combine the rhubarb and water in a sauce pan. Cook with a loose fitting lid over medium or low heat stirring every 7 minutes or so until all the rhubarb in very soft. The total cooking time averages about 20 minutes.

Step 3

Let the sauce cool. Sweeten to taste with your choice of sweetener. I recommend stevia or local honey. It is easier to judge and adjust the sweetness when the sauce is cool. And there are times when unsweetened rhubarb sauce is called for. Stay tuned for the reveal of that recipe!

Luscious and Local – Rhubarb Sauce: Stevia or Honey Sweetened