Serve hot or cold.
Rhubarb Conserve
14 cups rhubarb (cut in 1/2-inch pieces)
3 cups raisins
7 cups sugar
juice of 2 oranges rind of 2 oranges, thickly sliced
1/2 to 1 cup walnuts (if desired)
Combine all ingredients, except walnuts, and let stand one hour. Bring to a boil (uncovered) for 40 minutes, stirring frequently. Add walnuts and boil 5 more minutes. Put in sterilized jars and seal.
Rhubarb Marmalade
4 cups rhubarb (cut fine)
2 cups white sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
Boil rhubarb and sugar until thickened. Do not add water. Add nuts and stir well. Place in sterilized jars and, when cold, seal with paraffin. Store in cool place.
Canned Rhubarb
8 cups rhubarb (cut fine)
5 cups sugar
1 cup water
Let stand overnight. In the morning bring to a boil and add 1 can of crushed pineapple or pineapple tidbits. Sterilize jars, fill, seal, and store in a cool place.
Rhubarb Relish for Meat
12 cups rhubarb
6 cups brown sugar
3 cups chopped onions
1 1/4 cups white vinegar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Cut rhubarb into small pieces, wash, and dry. Add sugar and let stand for 2 to 3 hours. Add the rest of the ingredients and boil until thick (about 30 to 40 minutes). Stir often to prevent sticking. Store in sterilized jars until ready to use. Serve with meat. This is a particular favourite in Newfoundland.
Whether you are looking for a refreshing dish for the table or a spring tonic and mood brightener, turn to your rhubarb patch. Canadians, for a very long time, have been depending on this plant to cure what ails them.
Herbs of Grace
Those herbs which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but, being trodden upon and crushed, are three; that is, burnet, wild thyme and watermints. Therefore, you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread.
Sir Francis Bacon
In recent years, herbs have enjoyed such a surge in popularity that they have become one of the hottest items in Canadian cuisine. Gone forever is the image of herbs being used simply as inexpensive substitutes for spices or other imported ingredients. Today, herbs are considered staples by both everyday cooks and award-winning chefs. They are the subject of scores of new books, a major topic at workshops, seminars, and conferences, and the foundation for enterprising new businesses that serve this growing interest with a variety of herb-related products. In addition, organizations such as the International Herb Association and the Canadian Herb Society serve a growing membership.
With this return to popularity herbs have come full circle. They appear on the baked clay tablets of ancient Egypt and also on the wall and ceiling paintings of their tombs. The Romans left us the first written recipes using herbs both on the walls of their kitchens and in the collections of recipes of some of their famous cooks.We learn that:
The main Roman meal was eaten in the evening and comprised three courses. The first course was made up of morsels to tempt the appetite — oysters, cheese, olives, vegetables, and that great delicacy, roasted dormice. The second course included all kinds of meat; poultry and game such as song birds, ostriches, flamingoes, sausages, and a variety of stews, all highly seasoned with herbs and spices. This repast would be concluded with a dessert of fruit.
When the Romans arrived in Britain they brought with them, as well as their own recipes, a great deal of inherited knowledge from ancient Greece, Babylon, and Egypt about the use of herbs in cooking, in medicines, and for scent and cosmetics. This knowledge filtered through the layers of society to the lowliest peasant, who would cultivate an herb garden at the door.
During the Saxon period, much of this knowledge was lost, and we find that the cultivation and use of herbs often focused on the supernatural and the warding off of evil spirits rather than their healing effects and uses as flavourings. The Leech Book of Bald, written about 950 A. D., details many of the superstitions and pagan rites and beliefs about the evil or the good influence of plants at that time. For example, it was commonly believed that witches inhabited the elder; the periwinkle was called the sorcerer’s violet and could be used to foil the powers of evil; leeks were grown on the roofs of houses as a safeguard against lightning striking the building, or any other bad luck. Rue became known as the “herb of grace” because it enabled the eater to see witches and so avoid them, while the roots of the mandrake were believed to grow in human form and would shriek when they were uprooted. It was also believed they only grew under a gallows. Because the roots were much valued as a narcotic to ease pain and promote sleep, the legends say that a dog would be tied to the plant to pull it up so that the evil would possess the dog rather than the digger!
In the Middle Ages it was from the monasteries and the monks, who were able to read the ancient Latin writings about herbs and plants and exchange them across Europe and Britain, that herbs gained popularity as healing plants. The monks, with their dedication to the sick and the poor, frequently had large herb gardens within the monastery walls and often became the physicians for their surrounding districts.
In the manor houses of the Middle Ages, the lady of the house often developed an herb garden and a stillroom where the plants could be dried and made into medicines for her family, their servants, and any neighbours or friends who needed her assistance. In larger towns, an apothecary often opened a shop to sell herbal remedies, for only the very wealthy could afford to have a doctor in attendance, and then with questionable results!
Herbs were grown for other reasons besides seasoning and medicines, and one of the most important was to attract bees, thus leading to a source of honey, a valued sweetener. Lemon balm was often grown near the beehives, for it was believed bees would never leave a garden in which it was grown. Herbs such as lavender, fennel, costmary, cowslips, and daisies were grown to strew on the floors and perfume the room. Pomanders were made of sponge, moss, and fruit combined with herbs and were carried by doctors and monks visiting the sick and dying. In the past, herbs were also used for cosmetics, for dyes, for warding off insects, and as a substitute for soap.
Whether you grow your own herbs in windowsill pots or an outdoor garden or buy them as needed from markets or stores, there are several that are very popular and easy to use. These include such a stalwart as mint, chosen by the International Herb Association as Herb of the Year for 1998. The First Nations would gather a form of wild mint from stream banks to make an excellent beverage. They also ground the leaves and stems and dissolved them in water to treat nausea. Apple mint and peppermint are favourites for teas, while spearmint cuttings were brought by newcomers to use as restoratives and medicines, and today all three excel as cooking herbs when added to peas, carrots, potatoes, or roast lamb, or for making accompaniments such as mint sauce.
Parsley has long been the most widely used herb for flavouring, colouring, and garnishing food. The fresh sprigs of curly green leaves can be trusted not to wilt quickly, and when chopped they add both flavour and colour to a wide range of dishes.
Chives can be snipped with scissors for garnishing a dish or for flavouring when regular onions are too strong. They are