It’s that time of year again…the rhubarb is ready to be harvested. Unless you have a billion rhubarb recipes, you’ll probably need to freeze some of your rhubarb in order to, one, make it last the whole year, and two, not want to be sick at the sheer sight of it.
Freezing rhubarb is super simple. You can do it a couple of different ways. I always have done it the simplest way: wash, chop, and freeze. But, if you are more inclined to put a little extra work in, you can blanch it for 1 1/2 minutes or so. This will help preserve the color–though, be aware, whenever you freeze rhubarb, no matter what you do, the texture will be affected {which is why frozen rhubarb is really best for baked goods}.
You can also cut it, and then mix it in a syrup of 1 part sugar, 2 parts boiling water. I don’t really see the need to add extra sugar, but sugar does tend to preserve things a little longer, so the choice is totally up to you.
For basic freezing: Harvest it. Clean any leaves off of your rhubarb. Wash it thoroughly. Chop it into smallish pieces {between 1/2″-1″}. Allow it to dry completely before bagging it up and freezing it. If you want to make your life easier in the end, you can bag it up in pre-measured increments, so that you will be ready to just toss it into whatever you are preparing.
That’s pretty much it. Nice and simple, just the way I like it.
~Mavis
Want to know how to freeze pretty much any fruit or veggie? Check out my how-to guide, complete with blanching times.
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