Characteristics of the rhubarb
Rhubarb is a grateful and undemanding garden plant. It only needs plenty of water, otherwise it is even satisfied with a shady location and any kind of soil. When harvesting the rhubarb stalks, you have to pay attention to the right time: The key date for the last harvest of the year is Midsummer Day (June 24th). The reason for this is that rhubarb forms more and more toxic oxalic acid over the course of a year. In summer the value is so high that the rhubarb is no longer suitable for consumption.
also read
- Is it necessary to cut rhubarb in autumn?
- Does rhubarb need protection to overwinter?
- Sweet and sour pleasure: store rhubarb
Appropriate and unsuitable methods of juicing rhubarb
Experience teaches the amateur cook and gardener that not all methods of juicing are suitable for every fruit or vegetable. You can use the following recommendations as a guide for juicing rhubarb.
Better not: Juice the rhubarb while cold
Rhubarb is a very fibrous vegetable. When juicing with an electric juicer or an electric juicer, it can easily happen that the fibers get caught in the tools of the devices and have to be constantly freed from them. This is extremely time-consuming and lengthens the juicing process.
Since rhubarb should be heated before consumption to render the oxalic acid harmless, hot juicing is preferable to cold juicing.
Two ways to hot-extract rhubarb
With hot juicing you can choose between a saucepan and a steam extractor. It's easier with the steam extractor, but juicing rhubarb in a saucepan has the advantage that you don't have to buy a new kitchen appliance. Either way, you can sprinkle some sugar over the rhubarb to sweeten the juice.
- Saucepan: Wash the rhubarb stalks, cut them into two centimeter long pieces and place them in a sufficiently large saucepan. Cover the rhubarb pieces with water and cook for 20 minutes. Strain the soft-boiled rhubarb through a sieve. To clarify the juice thus obtained, filter it through a cheesecloth. If you want to preserve the rhubarb juice, boil it again before filling it into sterile bottles and sealing them immediately.
- Steam extractor: Put the washed and chopped rhubarb in the fruit basket of the steam extractor. Fill the bottom pot of the device with a little water, place the juice container on it and the filled fruit basket over it. Put a lid on the steam extractor and put it on the stove for about an hour. After this time, fill the rhubarb juice into sterile bottles (this way it will keep).
