Everything Rhubarb and some Chocolate too.

I love Rhubarb.  I love the colour and I love the taste.  When I was little we used to pick slender stalks and dip them in the sugar bowl and eat them like candy.  My mom also used to make rhubarb compot which we ate hot with cold milk as desert.  And it seems that the only jam that was ever available back then was Rhubarb jam, the only Rhubarb thing that I don't really like.  I've made it a bit of a hobby to find unusual recipes with Rhubarb and I've posted some here like the delicious Rhubarb soup and the fantastic Rhubarb ice cream.

I got a phone call the other day from a woman I've never met and she asked me to participate in the Day of the Rhubarb which is being held in a kind of Folk museum in the City.  Apparently she got my name from the Gardening Society as someone who is an expert on using Rhubarb.  Oh!  Ok!  I can be that!

So I've been up to my eyeballs in Rhubarb ever since that phone call, wiping the dust off my various Rhubarb recipes and looking for new ones, making stuff from the recipes to snap photos and even creating one, this Rhubarb and Chocolate chip muffins.  Well, at least adjusting a recipe to fit me needs.  In my 20 minute talk I want to show how incredibly versatile Rhubarb is and give people recipes for every part of the plant.

I didn't have a photo of my Rhubarb syrup, so I made some so that I could snap a picture.  When making syrup, there is always the problem of what to do with the mash that is left from sieving.  This time I adjusted a muffin recipe and came up with this:

Rhubarb and Chocolate Muffins.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

2 tsps baking powder

1/4 tsp salt 

3/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1/2 cup melted butter 

1/2 cup rhubarb mash plus almost the same amount to put on top

1/4 cup milk

3 eggs 

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Start by turning the oven on to 200C / 400F and line some muffin forms.  This recipe is perfect for 12 muffins. 

Mix the sugar, melted butter, rhubarb mash, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.  Combine the dry ingredients; flour, baking powder and stir it into the wet mix.  Don't over mix this, a few lumps are fine.  Add the chocolate chips.
Fill the muffin form and put a small dollop of rhubarb mash on top and a chocolate chip.  Sprinkle with some sugar.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes, check with a toothpick.

They were really nice and I was very happy that I didn't have to throw away food.  Although I could have put it on the compost heap, but this is so much better.

The speaking thing is on June 30th and I have reserved the rest of the month to everything Rhubarb.  Dyeing yarn and hair, insect poison, and, yes!  There is Rhubarb soap.  Might be two different ones.  And it's all coming soon to a ...
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