Rhubarb Dandelion Pie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep a rhubarb pie from being runny? ›

Cornstarch: A bit of cornstarch helps thicken the filling.

Because there's a lot of moisture in rhubarb, it's common to get a soggy lower crust. A blast of higher heat when you first start baking helps prevent that.

You don't need to peel peak-season rhubarb, but by midsummer, the stalks tend to be tough and fibrous. You might need to peel them to make them tastier.

Do You Need to Cook Rhubarb Before Baking? The short answer is no, you don't need to cook rhubarb before baking a rhubarb pie.

Sprinkle dried breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or other types of cereal, on the bottom crust before filling and baking in the oven.

Add some water (at least a cup) and the rhubarb to a saucepan. Add some sugar (about a cup) Cook on medium low heat until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is boiled down to a thick syrup. Let the mix cool, or refrigerate, and then move along with your recipe.

To pick rhubarb, hold the stalk firmly, pull and twist. Do not use a knife to cut the stalks from the plant. The knife can carry diseases from plant to plant, and the remaining stalk can be a point of entry for other pests.

Rhubarb leaves are toxic and humans should never ingest them. The stems are safe to eat.

Earlier harvests of sweeter, tender, pale stalks can be produced by covering rhubarb plants with a forcing jar, tall bucket or dustbin in mid-winter, so the stems form in the dark. Choose an early variety, such as 'Timperley Early', and only use a strong, healthy plant.

Wait at least 1 year before picking stalks from a new rhubarb plant. If you're growing a new rhubarb plant, don't harvest during the first year. The plant needs time to develop a strong root system, and harvesting too soon will weaken the young rhubarb plant. Leave all stalks intact for the first year.

Should rhubarb pie be kept in the refrigerator? ›

As surprising as it might sound, rhubarb pies can last for up to three days when kept at room temperature. Shoving your pie into the fridge can have an adverse effect, turning your delicate pie into a soggy mess that isn't quite as appealing to scoop out of the pie dish and serve.

Rhubarb is rich in antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins (which give it its red color) and proanthocyanidins. These antioxidants have anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties, which help protect you from many health-related issues such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Macerate Your Rhubarb With Sugar To Draw Out Excess Liquid

Mixing fruit with sugar draws out moisture through the process of osmosis, which happens when water naturally balances out by migrating from the cells in your fruit to the dissolved sugar molecules on the surface, the same way it does with salt.

If you're making homemade fruit pie filling and it's always runny and wet, add a tablespoon or two more of cornstarch to it and cook it in the microwave for about three minutes or until it's thick, then put it in the pie shell and bake it. Should come out fine, let it completely cool before you cut and serve the pie.

Rhubarb pie fillings are often soft and runny. The rhubarb contains so much water, you either have to add too much thickener or coax the rhubarb to release its liquid before thickening it.

For home cooking arrowroot is superior. It thickens clear, a benefit to the filling, thickens almost immediately which means no starchy left over flavor, and it can be frozen and thawed and still hold its water, so to speak. Commercial bakeries use, or at least used to, a product called ClearGel.