Rhubarb is widespread in this country. In the spring it is offered fresh in the supermarket or fruit and vegetable store. If it is grown in the garden, you will always have a few stalks harvested by the end of June. Rhubarb from Germany is a seasonal vegetable because the content of harmful oxalic acid in rhubarb increases over time over the course of the year. Since most of the acid is under the peel, rhubarb should be peeled. Peeling is very easy and you shouldn't do without the delicious sticks.
Botanical assignment and origin
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) actually means common rhubarb. In some regions it is also called Krauser or vegetable rhubarb. The common rhubarb belongs to the genus rhubarb (rheum) from the knotweed family (Polygonaceae). There are three types of rhubarb, the stems of which are colored differently red:
- Glaskin's Perpetual
- Timperley Early
- Holstein blood (because of its red handle)
The original home of the rhubarb is the Himalayas. He finally came from Russia in the 18th century. Century to Europe. With us rhubarb is officially a vegetable, in the USA, however, it is counted as a fruit.
Harvest and use
Even if rhubarb is a vegetable, in this country it is mainly used as a fruit. Compote and cakes are made from the stalks of the rhubarb, as the plant is the Contains harmful oxalic acid, which when consumed raw rhubarb causes vomiting and Circulatory disorders leads. The highest proportion of acid is found in the slightly curled leaves of the plant, which is why they are not used in the kitchen. They are considered inedible. But the acid is also present in the stems. Since the acidity in the plant increases over the course of the year, fresh rhubarb should only be prepared until the end of June. In the vernacular, Johanni (24. June) marks the end of the rhubarb harvest.
Tip: You can use cleaned and peeled rhubarb as a stash
Peel
Before the rhubarb is peeled, it must be washed. Depending on the thickness of the sticks, you can clean the rhubarb with a wet kitchen towel or wash it under running water until all remains of the earth are removed. Then it comes to drain on a dry kitchen towel or on a tea towel or tea towel.
Then use a paring knife to cut brown or damaged areas or areas. Carefully cut out notches. Likewise, after drying, the green leaves or leaf roots are cut off. To do this, simply cut the rod below the last base of the leaf. Do the same at the other end of the rod to remove the crop cut point. It is usually dull and discolored. Besides, it doesn't taste good.
Tip: If the first threads come along, you have already done part of the peeling work.
Peeling process
Rhubarb is not actually peeled, only the outermost fibers of the stick are peeled off. That is why one speaks of "pulling rhubarb threads".
- Put a small kitchen knife on one end of the rhubarb.
- Then peel off a strip down the length of the rod.
- Repeat the process until the stick is peeled all around.
The bar gives you the width and thickness of the individual strips. Always peel off as much as can easily be peeled off the end of the rhubarb. A potato peeler can also be used for thick sticks
be used. It doesn't matter whether you pull the threads from top to bottom or from bottom to top. Start at the end where it is easier for the individual strips to peel off.Tip: The strength of the threads depends on the thickness of the rods. With young poles, the individual threads can also be extremely thin.
Once the rhubarb has been peeled, it can be used to prepare meals. If you cook rhubarb soft, then the cooking water must be thrown away. It contains oxalic acid from the rhubarb pieces.
Opinions differ as to whether rhubarb needs to be peeled. But there are two good reasons why rhubarb should be peeled:
- Oxalic acid
- Fibrousness
Oxalic acid
The oxalic acid content in rhubarb varies depending on the variety. The concentration of acid in green-stemmed varieties is higher than in red-stemmed varieties. But the thickness of the bars is also decisive for the acid content. The following applies: the thicker the stick, the more acid it contains. The highest acid content is directly under the peel, i.e. in the outermost layers of the rhubarb stalks. In this case, peeling the rhubarb reduces the acidity.
Tip: Young, thin stems contain less oxalic acid from the ground up. They don't necessarily need to be peeled.
Fibrousness
Directly under the rhubarb peel is not only the highest content of oxalic acid, it is also very fibrous. The rhubarb stalks should be peeled so that they do not get caught in the teeth later.