In May and June PieChef.com is flooded with people looking for rhubarb pie recipes. And why not? Rhubarb is a great flavor that makes wonderful pies.
According to Wikipedia, in the US until the 1940s rhubarb (rheum) was considered a vegetable. It was reclassified as a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten.
And when I looked it up in my dictionary, I found that “this species is sometimes called “pie plant.” Makes sense to me!
Strawberries, Blueberries, Apples, Custard...
Strawberry rhubarb pie is perhaps my favorite pie (but only if I really had to choose just one). But developing new recipes for PieChef.com has opened my eyes to the greater versatility of rhubarb.
I never would have thought of combining rhubarb and apple until I started scouting around for recipes. Wow! What a discovery! Apple rhubarb pie is tart and tangy, and the different textures of the fruits make it interesting.
So what about Blueberry Rhubarb Pie, I thought? Delicious! You can use fresh or frozen berries, and the flavor is great–the tartness of the rhubarb complements the sweet berries.
Rhubarb custard pie is a simple, old-fashioned recipe that really lets the rhubarb take center stage. It’s rich and tasty.
I’m not sure where my rhubarb pie experiments will take me next, but I’m going to keep on looking for new and tasty combinations.