Strawberry Rhubarb Compote.

Rhubarb is in season, where I live and we are just coming to the end of its harvest! This is a tangy, mouth puckering herbaceous perennial that's considered more of a vegetable than a fruit. When it's cooked down and is sweetened, it acts more like a fruit. As such, rhubarb finds its way into pie filling, squares, dessert toppings and jams.

Here's what the plant looks like when it is growing:

  

There are 2 things that are important to remember about rhubarb:

1. The leaves are poisonous. It's only the stalks that are edible;
2. and it is full of biologically components that are natural laxatives. 

With the later, you may need to skip that second serving of rhubarb crumble, even though it's incredibly delicious and will call you by name from your refrigerator late at night. Proceed with caution is the only advise I can responsibly give you. ;)

Today I learned that rhubarb is also a good source of calcium and vitamin K.

It's an interesting vegetable and I like to make Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with it. 

A compote, by definition is a mixture of pieces of fruit that have been cooked down in a sweet syrup, sometimes with spices.

Here's the ingredients:

• 7 cups of clean rhubarb stalks that have been chopped into small pieces;
• 7 cups of clean strawberries with their leaves removed and that have been chopped into small pieces;
• 1 cup of fresh orange juice, (approximately 2 medium size oranges will produce a cup of juice);
• 1 cup of raw bee honey;
• 2 tbsp of fresh ginger root, minced into small pieces;
• and 1/2 cup of chia seeds.

Directions:

• Clean and chop the rhubarb and strawberries.

• Peel, cut and mince the fresh ginger root.

  

• Squeeze fresh orange juice from 2 medium size oranges.

  

• Measure the raw bee honey. (Start with 1/2 a cup and taste as you go. I needed to use 1 cup to get the sweetness level correct with the variety of rhubarb and strawberries that I used. If your rhubarb or strawberries are sweeter varieties than you won't require a full cup of honey. Adjust to match your preference by taste.)

• Add the orange juice, rhubarb and ginger root to a medium size pot. Cook for approximately 15 minutes over a medium heat or flame. As the rhubarb cooks it will soften and resemble a thick, stringy sauce.
• At the 15 minute mark, add the strawberries and cook another 5-7 minutes until most of the berries have also cooked down and lost their original shape.
• Turn the heat off and stir in the bee honey.

  

• Add a 1/2 cup of chia seeds and stir them into the compote to mix them in thoroughly. The chia seeds will thicken the compote into a jam-like consistency which makes it very versatile. Use it as a filling for pies, tarts, and crumbles. Or as a dessert topping. It also freezes well and can be used independently as a jam.

      

 

I welcome your comments and invite you to follow me on my journey.

~ Rebecca Ryan