The Rhubarb Patch

Ebbets Field

"THE RHUBARB PATCH"

(When Schaefer was the "one beer to have" and baseball uniforms had style)

Rhubarb Muffins

April is rhubarb season. Buy it now because it won't be around very long. Select thin and firm stalks. And beware: rhubarb leaves are POISONOUS. So use stalks ONLY.

Jane's Trucs - you may know these things, but writing these things makes me feel like I'm sharing good information and it keeps me off jdate where I also share good information, but with the wrong people.

At the bottom of this post, after the recipe, are some fun trivial facts about rhubarb.

Liquids should be at room temperature. Cold can 'shock' the rise, and heat can prematurely begin the chemical process.

Make sure your baking powder is fresh - even if the expiration date hasn't been met, change it if it's been open for a few months. It matters. Rumford has no aluminum. And it has cool packaging.

The best (really the best) vanilla can be purchased online or on the telephone or if you want to go to West Stockbridge at Baldwin's (I won't use any other brand.) It has cool packaging too, but that's not why I use it. Did I say it's really the best? And here's a funny flashback... if you go to their site and click on 'here's what our customers say', the first comment is from Jane Rosenberg, Rego Park, NY. That's OLD!!! That was my married name in 1982, 26 years ago.

Flour. There are several very good brands. For white flour, Heckers or Gold Medal, unbleached, are fine choices. Fresh is always the operative word. King Arthur makes great whole wheat flour and great bread flour. You can buy it online. Local supermarkets are carrying King Arthur now and Whole Foods and Fairway, both, carry King Arthur. A fantastic resource for flours, grains, gluten-free products, pancake and waffle mixes, cake and muffin mixes and more is Bob's Red Mill. Here's a movie to watch: Bob and Charlie Moore spill their beans. Their online pricing is competitive. Fairway has a ginormous selection of their products.

Rhubarb Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease 14 regular muffin cups or 48 mini muffin cups, or use paper liners

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. finely diced fresh rhubarb- approx. 6 oz.

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 large egg

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

3 Tbsp. red currant jelly

1 c. whole milk

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sugar for tops of muffins (optional)

Procedure:

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, b.p., salt, cinnamon and ginger and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar and currant jelly until smooth (jelly won't completely dissolve.) Whisk in milk, and vanilla and then butter. Stir in diced rhubarb.

Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula, being careful not to overmix, just until dry ingredients are moistened. (This is ALWAYS the case .. otherwise your finished product will be like a Spalding making a mess 'o GLUTEN and you didn't even know you were trying.) Less is more. Same for jewelry, makeup and dress size.

Scoop into prepared muffin cups (A commercial ice cream scoop works well. Mine is size 'yellow.')

Sprinkle generously with sugar (you don't have to, but doesn't it look great?) before baking

for approximately 25 minutes, or until muffins spring back to the touch, a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean, and the tops are nicely browned.

Cool before serving. If you don't eat these the day they're made, freeze them and then take them directly from the oven and heat them at 325 degrees.

Try them with strawberry butter!

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CLAP for rhubarb!!!!

The Guangzong emperor (1620-1621) is miraculously cured from some severe illness he got after having had a joyful time with four "beautiful women" sent to him by a high official, cured with rhubarb, naturally.

Red Barber wrote a book, The Rhubarb Patch: The Story of the Modern Brooklyn Dodgers There are two copies available and they begin at $82.50. Ebbets Field was referred to as "the rhubarb patch." I wonder if my Grandpa Julie loved rhubarb as much as he loved the Dodgers.

It is or was common for a crowd of extras in acting to shout the word "rhubarb" repeatedly and in an unsynchronised manner, to cause the effect of general hubbub. As a result, the word "rhubarb" sometimes is used to mean "length of superfluous text in speaking or writing", or a general term to refer to irrelevant chatter by chorus or extra actors.

As Louis Armstrong wrote:

S'all.....

Look for Rhubarb and Spinach/Sorrel Soup in the next few days

peace and love,

Jane