"rhubarb" news and stories

It's been a brutal winter across much of the country, but spring is finally peeking its head out from under those snow drifts. Want to celebrate? YumSugar has tips on cooking up five of springtime's most iconic foods. We all love those first sweet strawberries, but this year, instead of shortcake, why not use them to make a rich ice cream bursting with fruit flavor? More of a rhubarb fan? Harness its captivating sweet-tart flavor in a delicate salad. They've given you the ideas, now it's up to you. So hit up your local farmer's market and get cooking -- these recipes will make any meal just a little bit brighter.

Get the full list -- and the recipes -- at YumSugar.com.

Happy National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day!

Few things are more suited to a hot summer day than the fusion of strawberry and rhubarb in a freshly baked pie, tempering the sweetness of heaps of juicy strawberries with the tartness of chopped rhubarb (appropriately addressed by the slang term "pie plant"). And if the thought of a hot oven heating up an already stuffy home makes you hesitant, this pie's equally good devoured cold or at room temperature, topped with a healthy dollop of chilly vanilla ice cream.

Grandma's Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie on the Food Network lightens the pie with lemon zest and juice; Epicurious tops the pie with a cheerful lattice crust; even Cindy Crawford has a favorite rendition, seasoned with nutmeg. But the winning claim to fame that we favor? SimplyRecipes dishes up a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie that took first prize at the local fair -- simple summer desserts don't get any more spirited than that.

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Don't be intimidated by that bunch of hot-pink, celery-like stalks you're seeing at the farmers market right now. It's rhubarb!

I've never loved that old adage about taking the bitter with the sweet, but in the case of rhubarb and strawberries I make an exception. This pairing is classic because it's pretty hard for it to go wrong, the strength of the rhubarb tempering the sweet berries, and the berries taking the edge off what might be an overpowering bitterness on its own -- helped along by our old friend sugar. Here they meet up in a homey cobbler of buttery biscuits, in a recipe from Melissa Murphy's Sweet Melissa Baking Book. (You might want to dig into that cobbler on a warm summer afternoon in the shady garden of Murphy's Sweet Melissa Patisserie, in Park Slope, Brooklyn.)

Experiment with rhubarb. There are dozens of varieties, like the deep red Valentine and juicy Holstein's Bloodred, and the pink Sunrise. And try it in an airy dessert -- Ruth Cousineau's Kitchen Daily recipe for meringue nests with roasted rhubarb-and-strawberry sauce.

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• The Dairy State is legalizing the sale of raw milk, sending a strong signal to the rest of the country.
  
• Fiestaware is more than a set of dishes. It's a subculture -- complete with its own play.
• Spring has hit early in Wisconsin -- which means rhubarb and morels are ahead of schedule, too.
• When wine meets gadgetry, a love affair is born.