DESCRIPTION
Large stems of mostly green rhubarb that is a long-lived and winter-hardy perennial.
PROVENANCE
This special rhubarb has been grown in the Oshkosh area since the late-nineteenth century. The seed was donated to Oshkosh Seed Savers by Pam Schmelzle and her mother Audrey Moreman. Their ancestors born in Germany had a farm near the Russian/German border that in 1892 was burned to the ground by the Russian military as the family fled and immigrated to the U.S. This immigrant family included Augusta Reich and her daughter Alvina Kortmann, who was 17 when arriving in the U.S. with rhubarb seeds and plants from their farm. Alvina was Pam Schmelzle’s Great Grandmother. Pam recalls her growing and selling strawberries and rhubarb from her home in Princeton, Wisconsin. The rhubarb was transplanted to Oshkosh after Alvina’s death in 1967.
GROWING RECOMMENDATIONS
Start indoors or direct sow anytime spring through summer. Soil will need to be moist for germination, but mature plants do not like prolonged wetness or flooding. It will be ready to harvest in the second or third year of growth. Mature plants will need about three square feet of growing space. Transplanting can be difficult because of an extensive root system; so, try to move plants to a permanent location when they are young, if possible.
SEED SAVING
Plants start to flower in summer, and while many older gardening books will recommend cutting off the flower stalks to avoid energy leaving the stems and roots, a couple of these flower stalks need to be left if seed collection is planned. Seeds will be ready to harvest at the end of the summer or early fall when the brown seed coats are dry and seeds fall off the flower stalks easily.
CULINARY USES
Rhubarb leaves are not edible–only the stems should be used. Rhubarb pies, cakes, crisps, crumbles, and quick bread recipes are common. Rhubarb sauce can be made by cooking the cut stems with a sweetener such as sugar or honey. Or, roast pieces of rhubarb with butter and a sprinkling of sugar in the oven to be used as a topping for dessert or breakfast porridge. A springtime drink can be made by boiling rhubarb in water with cardamom and lemon peel; when it has lost its color, strain out and discard the plant fibers and sweeten with honey to taste.
PRESERVING YOUR HARVEST
Rhubarb jam or sauce can be canned or frozen. Some people freeze raw cut rhubarb for later use in baked goods.