I adore Rhubarb! My love affair began as a child when I would walk through my aunt Vorita Isaacs and Katharyn Noble’s gardens. They lived next door to each other and I loved to visit their houses and learn about the vegetables and flowers they grew. One day I picked a stalk of rhubarb. I thought it was pink celery until I took a bite and my mouth puckered from the tart flavor!

The highlight of every visit was getting to help in the kitchen as they prepared dinner. I learned multiple cooking skills and life lessons from them. They would make strawberry rhubarb pies and rhubarb compote for homemade biscuits. Unlike today, strawberries and rhubarb were seasonal foods. We would go to Scott’s farms to pick the berries. The rhubarb came from the garden. After the season was over you would have to wait a whole year to get another taste of that strawberry rhubarb goodness!

Here is my recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie. I like the flavor to be a little on the tart side and use more rhubarb than strawberries, but you can always use equal parts of each. Happy cooking!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie- 8 Servings

1 and 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons quick tapioca for grocery store strawberries or 1/4 cup quick tapioca for juicy local strawberries
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Zest of 1/2 lemon
3 cups rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 cup sliced strawberries, washed, capped and dried before slicing
Pastry for a 9 inch bottom and top crust
1 tablespoon butter, cubed

Mix sugar, tapioca, and salt together in a bowl. Stir in rhubarb and strawberries. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes to rehydrate the tapioca. Meanwhile, line a 9 inch pie pan with the bottom crust. Cut the top crust into lattice strips. Fill the bottom crust with the fruit mixture and dot with 1 tablespoon butter. Cover with lattice strips. Seal and flute edges of piecrust. Bake pie at 400F for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes minutes or until juices form large bubbles that open slowly. Cool before serving. Enjoy Friends!

Published in The News and Neighbor on June 8, 2016