Pieplant

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Since moving to Finland, I hadn't before noticed the numerous recipes and foods made with rhubarb. It seems like everywhere I look these days there is rhubarb pie or something else containing the vegetable declared a fruit in 1947 by the US Customs court based on its primary use in desserts and baked goods. I had never tried rhubarb before as I had always assumed that it was a regional treat in the US which I incorrectly associated with the South. The Dictionary of American Regional English, volume IV, contains both rhubarb and pieplant (no space) [which is said to be German or American depending on what source you read]. The distribution map clearly shows that pieplant, thus rhubarb, is known and used mostly in the north.

rhubarb n Usu |'ruba(r)b|
1929 AmSp 5.126 ME, "Rhubub" or "pie plant" was rhubarb. a.k.a. apple cabbage, apple (of) peru, elephant's ear, garden sauce, go-quick plant, pieplant, pie stem, sour sticks, wine plant, raspberry pieplant. (pieplant first citation in 1838.)

It doesn't grow well in hot climates which would explain why I can't recall much rhubarb growing in St. Louis and the subsequent lack of pies. It grows well in the Northern US and Canada with Utica, Michigan proclaimed as the Rhubarb capital of the world. I was surprised to find that June 9th is National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day. I wonder who is in charge of making up these wacky national days.

Rhubarb apparently grows very well in Finland, too, which explains the multitude of uses for it in spite of it being a very unlikely food plant. Jams, juices and pies seem to be the most popular ways to enjoy rhubarb. It is the harbinger of summer when the stalks are ready for harvest in late May/early June. The leaves, as well as the stalks or petioles, are poisonous due to the oxalic acid content. The leaves have a higher concentration but you'd have to eat a few pounds of them before achieving a lethal dose though you'd likely vomit long before that might happen.

Oxalic acid is a strong acid and is what is responsible for the extreme sour/tart flavour associated with rhubarb. A number of people mentioned that foods with rhubarb must contain milk or be served with milk or cream to temper the acid which binds to the calcium to make calcium oxalate which isn't all that good for you either. Oxalic acid is also strong enough to corrode tooth enamel so it might be good to brush your teeth after eating rhubarb to limit the damage. It's not often mentioned that rhubarb's primary use for hundreds of years was using the roots for their laxative effect and magical cure for dysentery. Rhubarb doesn't appear to have been very popular in pies until sometime in the early 1800s which is about when sugar became a more attainable commodity for the average home. Maybe it was the cowpie plant originally before being shortened to pieplant. :)

So what's the allure of a stringy, sour, poisonous, corrosive, laxative plant? I'm not really sure just yet, but in 1995, two Yale scientists discovered that oxalic acid, found in rhubarb, helped neutralize CFC's. I suppose that's great news if you live near a Monsanto toxic waste dump or have a housemate who uses way too much hairspray. You can also clean your aluminum pots with juice from the leftover stalks. It's a pie filling and a pot cleaner, too! It's use as a floorwax has yet to be determined.

I made both a strawberry-rhubarb cobbler and a cheesecake with a rhubarb glaze and, while I found the taste of the rhubarb quite good, I'm not convinced that the plant is such a laudable foodstuff. My main problem with rhubarb is that it's like pink celery and I'm not keen on celery since the texture is mealy and stringy even though the taste is mostly agreeable. I wasn't very happy with the cobbler because of the extreme fibery nature of the fruit. It was sweet, tangy and buttery from the topping but the texture was all wrong, slimy even. Everyone seemed to like it, but I will wait for blueberry season to make another cobbler that tastes right.

The cheesecake, however, was a perfect application of rhubarb separated from its stringy support structure which is, perhaps, the best way to enjoy rhubarb. I had some excellent Italian mascarpone cheese from the Gran Delicato deli (Kalevankatu 34) that I needed to use and rhubarb is still plentiful so I found a recipe on Epicurious that looked good and was pleasantly surprised with the results. I know quite a few Finnish recipes suggest Hovi or other 'tuorejuusto' for cheesecakes which really should be avoided since Philadelphia and mascarpone are widely available here and Hovi is not a smooth cheese with a completely different texture and taste.

When I make this cheesecake again sometime I will reduce the number of eggs to 4 since 6 seemed a bit excessive, even for the amount of cheese, and the cake rose quite high before sinking after it cooled. I'm fairly certain that the recipe for the filling could be halved rather easily while still resulting in a good cake. The glaze should really be a gelée prepared with gelatin even though I thought the sauce was quite excellent poured over the sliced cake. The gelée would make for a nicer overall presentation I think. It's easy to make but just don't ask how many grams of fat are in a slice as if you have to ask, you probably don't want to know the answer. :)

Mascarpone Cheese with Rhubarb Glaze and Chocolate-covered Strawberries

Makes:12+ servings
Time: about 1 hour prep
Source: Bon Appétit, April 2002

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs or 150g of ruis or plain digestive crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 stick or 60g unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2-1 teaspoon cocoa (optional)
• 0,5 dl ground hazelnuts (optional)

Filling

• 16oz or 500g Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup or 2,25 dl sugar
• 16oz or 500g mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract or vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup or 1,75 dl sour cream/fraiche/kermaviili

Glaze

• 1,5 pounds or ~700g fresh rhubarb cut into small pieces
• 8 strawberries, hulled, halved (possibly use frozen mansikkasose since it's cheaper than late-season strawberries and leave until after straining the rhubarb before adding to juice)
• 3/4 cup or 1,75 dl sugar
• 2/3 cup or 1,50 dl water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2-4 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 3 tablespoons of water (if you want a gel instead of a thickened sauce, use 3-4 gelatin sheets softened in water and squeezed of excess water or 2 packets gelatin powder instead)

Chocolate-covered strawberries

• 6 oz/170 g bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 12 large strawberries

1. For crust: Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C. Grease 9-inch/23cm round springform pan with 2.75 in/7cm high sides with butter. Mix crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon (cocoa and hazelnuts if using) in medium bowl. Add butter and stir to blend. Press mixture evenly onto bottom (not sides) of pan. Bake until crust is set, about 10 minutes. Cool completely. Maintain oven temperature.
2. For filling: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add mascarpone and beat until smooth. Mix in flour. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt. Pour filling into pan.
3. Bake cheesecake until puffed around edges and center moves slightly when pan is gently shaken (center may fall and crack), about 1 hour. Turn oven off; leave cake in oven with door closed 1 hour. Transfer cake to rack and cool completely. Stir sour cream until smooth; spread atop cake. Refrigerate cake overnight.
4. For glaze: Combine rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, 2/3 cup water, and lemon juice in large saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until rhubarb is tender, about 9 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool 10 minutes. Pour mixture through strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract liquid. Return liquid to same saucepan; bring to simmer over medium heat. Whisk cornstarch or moisten gelatin; add to liquid in saucepan; whisk constantly until mixture boils and thickens, about 6 minutes. Allow the mixture to reduce for 10 minutes. Pour glaze into small bowl; chill until cold, about 2 hours. Spread glaze over cheesecake. Refrigerate cheesecake for at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
5. For chocolate-covered strawberries: Line small baking sheet with waxed paper. Stir chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until smooth. Remove chocolate from over water. Dip strawberries halfway into melted chocolate. Gently shake off excess chocolate; place on prepared sheet. Chill until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes and up to 6 hours. Place strawberries around top edge of cake. Serve.