How To Harvest Rhubarb Correctly!

Do you cut or twist your rhubarb?  Read this before you harvest!

Rhubarb is now ready in Ontario. The nice thing about growing rhubarb is it requires little maintenance, which I love!  As soon as your rhubarb is ready in the spring, harvest it and continue to harvest until fall.  From my experience, the more you harvest your rhubarb, the better it is! 

When it comes to growing rhubarb, there is a little trick that will help your rhubarb to grow even better.  It’s all in how you harvest it!  For years, I always cut my rhubarb stocks with a knife when harvesting.  That’s how I thought it was done, however I was wrong.

Visuals are so much better! Check out the video below to see exactly how to correctly harvest your rhubarb.

If you cut rhubarb to harvest it, the piece left behind on the plant does not produce any additional rhubarb stocks.  That is a problem. If you twist and pull the stock near the root, the plant is then prompted to regrow a new stock.  Therefore, your plant will continue to grow.

Be gentle when harvesting your rhubarb when twisting and pulling.  You do not want to pull out your entire rhubarb plant.  That would be terrible!  However, you still need to cut the leaves from the stocks and discard them.  You can’t eat rhubarb leaves.  

A little fun fact about rhubarb, rhubarb is actually a vegetable!  That makes dessert even more enjoyable because you are actually eating vegetables! 

If your rhubarb patch gets too big it can be split and transplanted easily.  The best time to transplant rhubarb is in the fall.  Rhubarb thrives in a sunny location. 

Funny enough, last spring I transplanted a rhubarb plant and it’s doing quite well.  The area the rhubarb was growing in was surrounded by wild raspberry bushes. The raspberry bushes were overcrowding the rhubarb plant and preventing the rhubarb from growing. I had nothing to lose by trying and it actually survived!

After transplanting rhubarb, do NOT harvest the stocks for one year.  This will make your plant stronger.  I think the saying is ‘patience is a virtue’!  A little patience goes a long way I guess!  Leaving the rhubarb for that first year will allow you to enjoy rhubarb the next year and for many more to come!

Now that you have harvested all of this amazing rhubarb you have to make something with it!  You have to try my Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp recipe.  Crisps are something I love to make.  Less fuss than pie but so delicious.  

Strawberry rhubarb crisp is fast to make and with strawberry season right around the corner you can use fresh local produce.  If you can’t wait until fresh berries are ready, no problem!  Just use frozen strawberries.  I do it all the time.  

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe

First grease the bottom and sides of a dish with butter. I use a square 8×8 (3 inches deep) dish.  Set aside. 

Ingredients for filling

• 2 cups sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• 3 cups diced rhubarb (fresh or frozen)
• 1/4 cup white sugar or maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Ingredients for topping

• 1/4 cup melted butter (vegan/plant based butter can be substituted)
• 1/4 brown sugar
• 3/4 cups oatmeal
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. To make the filling:  In a large bowl mix sliced strawberries, sliced rhubarb, sugar (or maple syrup) and flour.  Gently mix until the fruit is covered with the flour and sugar/maple syrup. 
3. Add the fruit mixture to the 8×8 dish and set aside.
4. To make the topping:  In a separate bowl add butter, brown sugar, oatmeal, flour and cinnamon.  Mix until combined.  Once combined, gently spread this oatmeal mixture on top of the fruit mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until the top appears golden brown and the fruit mixture is soft when a tester is inserted.

We love this strawberry rhubarb crisp with either some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top. If rhubarb is not your thing, make sure you check out my recipe for ‘The ULTIMATE Mixed Berry Crisp‘. This Berry Crisp is an easy dessert you can whip up in no time at all.

Comment Below

What is your favourite thing to make with fresh rhubarb? Let me know in the comments! I would love to hear from you.

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