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Can you cook rhubarb with no sweetener?

(56 Posts)
25Avalon Sun 29-May-22 21:40:21

I add a tiny amount of unrefined sugar when I cook rhubarb with a little water in a saucepan. Dh insists I should cook it with no added sugar or sweetener of any kind. I’ve told him it will be too tart and take the roof off his mouth! Still he insists. I know I wouldn’t be able to eat it. Maybe I’ll just do some without sugar just for him. (Pulls face). I’d be interested to know, however, if any one else has done this as we ‘argue’ about it.

Elegran Mon 30-May-22 17:31:08

There is only one way to prove to him that rhubarb without sweetener will set his teeth on edge. That is to insist on cooking HIS without any. Keep on doing your own as usual, and don't give in if he asks for some of yours!

saltnshake Mon 30-May-22 17:14:03

Use a small amount of Total Sweet, it can be used by diabetics and those with pre-diabetes. I use it to sweeten custard, cakes, pies etc. Very little is needed. Total Sweet is a natural sweetener made from birch and beech trees. I buy it from Sainsbury's.

Blondiescot Mon 30-May-22 13:55:22

We grow it in the garden and I always cook mine first - either stew it or cook in the oven, depending on what I'm going to use it for - and then add sugar as required.

winterwhite Mon 30-May-22 11:54:20

I once read that rhubarb can be added to a beef casserole to add an interesting context, "and the family will never guess".
I had a try and it did (add an interested texture), and they didn't (guess). But I stupidly told them, and every casserole for years after was greeted with "Has this got rhubarb in?"

I'm another who never adds sugar to rhubarb crumble.

Lovetopaint037 Mon 30-May-22 11:01:54

I add strawberries to rhubarb and cook in the oven. If you have some over ripe strawberries that are past their best it works well.

JackyB Mon 30-May-22 09:17:59

My mother always stewed rhubarb without sugar and froze it in blocks, adding the sugar when she defrosted it. As DH doesn't like hot sweet desserts (They're just not anything here in Germany) I never get the chance to do rhubarb crumble these days, which I would love, but wouldn't make just for me.

The only way I can use rhubarb is either as a savoury dish - served as a vegetable - or in a rhubarb cheesecake. The rhubarb goes in the bottom of a pastry base, chopped small, raw, and filled up with a sort of sweet quiche mixture, mainly using quark and eggs. Several recipes use a sachet of custard powder to set it, reducing the eggs.

Cabbie21 Mon 30-May-22 08:55:38

That makes sense.

Scribbles Mon 30-May-22 08:46:35

Many years ago, I had a boyfriend who was an industrial chemist and he told me to never add sugar to fruit while cooking. I can't recall the complicated explanation of the process but, translated into lay persons' language, the heating and boiling process makes the sugar taste less sweet so you need to add much more sugar to achieve the taste you want.
Instead, he advised cooking the fruit then, when it has cooled just slightly but is still quite hot, taste it and add a modest amount of sugar or honey according to your preference.
I've cooked fruit this way ever since and find, except for rhubarb and blackcurrants, I very rarely need to add anything to most fruits.

Cabbie21 Mon 30-May-22 08:41:30

Yesterday I part- cooked rhubarb in the oven with half a tablespoon of sugar( I wish I had thought about the fruit juice ) then topped it with crumble with another half. Sweet enough, not too sweet. I daren’t eat much though or it means a quick dash to the loo!

H1954 Mon 30-May-22 07:39:55

Some rhubarb varieties are naturally sweeter. We grow rhubarb and I find the redder or pinker the stems, the sweeter our fruit; the green stems are quite tart.

I cooked some last evening to make coulis for topping Greek yoghurt. Both came out of the freezer, the rhubarb is an early so that was this years crop and I cooked it with some of last years blackberries and raspberries. I used very little water and no sugar. If necessary I'd use Splenda or a little brown sugar or even honey.

BlueBalou Mon 30-May-22 07:20:57

It’ll strip the enamel off your teeth!
I use Demerara sugar, we had rhubarb crumble yesterday.

MawtheMerrier Mon 30-May-22 06:18:02

Orange juice is good especially if the rhubarb is stewed in a slow oven (as I do) or a slow cooker. But I do add a half /1 tsp of sugar and a pinch of salt. My MIL taught me how that brings out the sweetness.
And we used to Demerara sugar to taste when eating

grandMattie Mon 30-May-22 06:07:13

If you can find the herb “sweet Cecily”, add that to your rhubarb, remove it after cooking. It stops that toe curling, mouth-puckering sourness of main crop rhubarb.
You can also add sugar to your own taste with each serving if your DH doesn’t want any.

Whitewavemark2 Mon 30-May-22 05:50:55

MayBee70

Where can you get forced rhubarb from? I had a book about it years ago. It was a novel. But I lent it to a friend, never got it back and can’t remember what it was called. I’d love to read it again.

Usually it is the earliest more expensive stuff. Pinker than the later rhubarb. Supposed to be sweeter as well, but I usually add a sweetener of some sort.

I can eat bowlfuls of rhubarb, I love it.

Chestnut Sun 29-May-22 23:54:27

I like tinned pears in fruit juice and the juice is very sweet so might be useful for that. Not the pears in syrup.

DillytheGardener Sun 29-May-22 23:30:35

Sorry paddyann54 I somehow missed your post in the thread. That’s what I use too.

DillytheGardener Sun 29-May-22 23:29:44

Orange juice! It makes it really sweet and you can’t taste it.

Esspee Sun 29-May-22 23:26:10

MiniMoon

As children we used to eat a stick of rhubarb raw with a little saucer of sugar to dip it in.
I couldn't eat stewed rhubarb without sweetening it.

We dipped it in loads of sugar in a poke.

A poke is a paper bag in this part of the world.

timetogo2016 Sun 29-May-22 23:15:06

I cook it in diet lemonade,works well.

Teacheranne Sun 29-May-22 23:13:08

I don’t sweeten rhubarb if I stew it for a crumble, there is enough sugar in the crumble mix for me. I love tart fruit.

MayBee70 Sun 29-May-22 23:10:05

Where can you get forced rhubarb from? I had a book about it years ago. It was a novel. But I lent it to a friend, never got it back and can’t remember what it was called. I’d love to read it again.

MiniMoon Sun 29-May-22 23:00:24

As children we used to eat a stick of rhubarb raw with a little saucer of sugar to dip it in.
I couldn't eat stewed rhubarb without sweetening it.

Callistemon21 Sun 29-May-22 22:34:24

J52

I bake it in the oven, makes it sweeter.

I've done that and it works well.

but eat it raw without sweetener
I'm getting pains in my saliva glands just thinking abou that, Redhead

Redhead56 Sun 29-May-22 22:15:06

I grow it I sweeten with a touch of honey when cooking it but eat it raw without sweetener.

Grandmadinosaur Sun 29-May-22 22:01:36

When I used to go to a certain slimming club they used to say to poach it in diet lemonade. I always found doing it that way it had a synthetic taste. Perhaps using the non diet variety would give better results.