How To Freeze Rhubarb

Jump To:

Rhubarb is a vegetable often grown and consumed in the winter. The vegetable has a red-colored stalk and is sour in taste. Residents of European countries consume rhubarb with added sweeteners. Rhubarb has medicinal properties, thus, used as a medicine. Check out rhubarb benefits. Rhubarb requires a cold environment to grow. Usually grown in mountainous regions. North America and Northern Europe have recognized rhubarb as a garden plant. Let’s get into how to freeze rhubarb.

Consumption of rhubarb is possible after proper cooking with sweeteners because it has a citric taste. Rhubarb is merrily cooked as traditional desserts, pies, soup, jams, sauces, tarts, crumbles, cocktails, and rhubarb wine. North Americans sometimes call Rhubarb a Pie Plant because of its history. It is called so because of its traditional nature of being made into pie. This blog discusses how delicious rhubarb can be stored for a more extended period.

Methods To Freeze Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a liked vegetable in the American and European regions. Because of its unavailability in every season, rhubarb is often preserved by freezing. This helps in using the vegetable for various purposes during all times. There are certainly effective ways to freeze the rhubarb correctly.

1. Raw Rhubarb

Firm and crisp rhubarb stalks must be used to freeze it raw. The process through which raw rhubarb can be frozen are:

Gently remove the rhubarb leaves and cut the stalks into even medium-sized pieces.
Place the rhubarb stalks in a tray and open freeze them. Please make sure all the stalks are similar in size so that it freezes evenly.

Tip the frozen stalks into an airtight container or plastic bag. This method of freezing can be used to store the rhubarb for three months.

2. Blanched Rhubarb

The rhubarb can also be preserved by blanching it. This is an easy method to preserve uncooked rhubarb. The process to freeze it is as follows:

Cut the rhubarb into equally small pieces.

Blanch the rhubarb stalks in boiling water for around 1 minute.
Transfer the rhubarb pieces into cold water(water with ice cubes) to cease the effect of boiling water.
Immediately drain the cool water and allow the rhubarb pieces to dry.

In order to use the rhubarb all at once, tip the pieces into an airtight plastic container and directly freeze it. This will make the rhubarb pieces to stick together.
In order to use the rhubarb pieces independently for different purposes, align the pieces into a lined tray/baking sheet, and open freeze it for two hours.

3. Cooked Rhubarb

The simplest method to freeze rhubarb is by cooking it first. The process enables one to use the rhubarb for different motives. The process through which one can cook rhubarb before freezing is as follows.

Tip the evenly cut rhubarb pieces into a pan and add some liquid. The liquid can be any fruit juice or simply water.
As rhubarb is sour in taste, add ¼ of sugar or any sweetening agent as you please. This is necessary for eliminating the citric taste of rhubarb.
Simmer the ingredients with the rhubarb stalks until it’s tender.

Turn off the flame/stove, and allow it to cool.
Once cooled, tip the cooked stalks in an airtight container or plastic bags to store them in the freezer.

4. Roasted Rhubarb

Another simple way to freeze rhubarb is to roast them. This is another simple way to keep the rhubarb fresh and edible after days effectively. The simple process of roasting rhubarb before freezing is:

Cut the rhubarb into finger-sized pieces and mix sugar or any desired sweetener to eliminate its citric taste.
Heat the oven at 180 degrees fan and place the rhubarb in the oven. Do not forget to cover the rhubarb with aluminum foil.
After 15 mins remove the foil and roast for another 5 minutes.

Following this, store the rhubarb in an airtight container and freeze it.

How To Defrost Rhubarb?

Frozen rhubarb is as easy to defrost as it was to freeze. Just leave the desired amount of rhubarbs at room temperature for several hours. The rhubarbs will defrost themselves. To avoid uneven breaking off pieces, gently separate the defrosted rhubarbs.

Uses Of Frozen Rhubarb

Frozen rhubarb can be used similarly to fresh rhubarb. Defrosting makes the rhubarb look like freshly cut rhubarbs. The various methods a rhubarb stalk can be used are:

Rhubarb dessert- defrosted rhubarbs are excellent for a soft layer in desserts. The sweet citric taste makes the dessert super delicious. Frozen Rhubarbs that are roasted are perfect for dessert layers.
Crumbles- raw or blanched rhubarb is excellent for the purpose of making a crumble.
Rhubarb Jam- Cooked defrosted rhubarbs are a perfect fit for rhubarb jam. The delicious nature of rhubarb makes a good jam.

Rhubarb Pie- Pies are an absolute favorite dish when it comes to desserts. A delicious vegetable like rhubarb is traditionally known for being made into pies. So, one of the important dishes that can be made by defrosted rhubarb is a pie.
Rhubarb soup- Rhubarb is known to have medicinal qualities. A rhubarb soup is a healthy option on any given day. Not only medicinal properties, but the delicious taste of rhubarb also contributes to a healthy and tasty soup.
Sauce- rhubarb and other vegetables and herbs can be converted into a sauce that can act as a seasoning for meat.

Tart- A tart that contains delicious rhubarb can be the highlight of a dinner party. Just mix some of the rhubarb with the custard filling and place a layer of the garnish’s stems.
Cocktail- A rhubarb cocktail might be a new drink to try. The rhubarbs can be tossed with gin or vodka to create a pink drink that is delicious in its way.
Cakes and muffins- as a tasty vegetable, rhubarb is often used for making cakes and muffins.

Conclusion

Here are the various methods of freezing the delicious pink vegetable, rhubarb. We have also listed the use of rhubarbs in general and after freezing them. Rhubarb has infinite more ways to amaze our taste buds. All you need is some experimentation. With the methods of preserving the rhubarbs for a longer time, you can keep creating new dishes any time you want.