Rhubarb
by Louise Bergen Price

The first real treat of spring is easy:  a saucer of sugar and a stalk of rhubarb, fresh from the garden.  And later, of course, there’s rhubarb platz, tangy and sweet, with a golden brown crumb topping.  What can be better?

 The origins of the word “rhubarb” are easier to see in the German word “Rhabarber.”  “Rha” is the ancient name for the Volga River, on whose banks rhubarb has grown wild for centuries, likely brought there from China by Eurasian tribes such as Mogols or Scythians.  “Barbar” comes from the Greek “barbaros” meaning foreign; thus, a foreign plant from the Volga.  Because we eat the stems, not the fruit, rhubarb is actually a vegetable.

 Although rhubarb has been used for centuries as a medicinal plant, it has only been used in cooking since sugar became readily available.  It came to North America in the 1820s, moving west with the settlers.   In D.H.Peters list of typical spring menus in Chortitza in the early 1900s,  “a large Rhubarb Platz” is the main item on a typical Saturday supper.  Rhubarb also appears in Mennonites dishes  in Moos, piroshke, wine and verenike.

Fruit Platz
Stir together 2 cups flour, ½ tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sugar, 4 tsp baking powder.  Cut in 3 Tbsp butter or shortening.
Mix ½ cup milk with 1 egg, add to flour mixture.  Dough will be sticky.  Press into greased baking pan.
Cover dough with cut-up rhubarb.  Sprinkle top with crumbs made of 1cup sugar (or more) 1 cup flour, 4 Tbsp butter.    Bake at 350º F for 30 minutes, or till lightly browned.