Rhubarb season, finally!

Hi everyone,

sorry for it being so quiet lately but the sad news is that we have been mourning the loss of a family member who was a great supporter of Jake's Boost and we miss her dearly.

Now, we are slowly getting back into the nut butter making business and what better way to do so than with a recipe using a locally sourced, organic ...and here it comes... VEGETABLE! I know, crazy, right? Rhubarb is one of the very few vegetables that is prepared as if it were a fruit thanks to its tart taste.

In our hemisphere, rhubarb is one of the first food plants harvested and April/May/early June is the best time to make use of its versatility in all kinds of dishes. I have to admit, I have not always been a huge fan of rhubarb. We had so much in the garden when I was a child and whenever I saw my mum cutting rhubarb on a Sunday I knew chocolate cake or ice-cream was off of the menu.

Of course, nowadays, the number of recipes to choose from seems infinite but back then, it came mostly boiled down in sugar with a crumble topping. Not the worst idea, but not necessarily the most exciting. That's why I decided to use it in a Bircher Muesli instead. Again, you can find some lovely recipes online for bircher muesli with rhubarb, I have jazzed mine up with a bit of Jake's Boost of course ;)

You can buy two types of rhubarb at the moment: naturally grown and forced rhubarb. Forced rhubarb grows basically in the dark and is more tender and less stringy than its naturally grown sibling. Covering up the crown encourages the plant to grow and it makes rhubarb available early on in the year when there's little else in regards to local fruit produce. Go for the forced rhubarb if you can if you want less sourness and a more succulent tasting ingredient.

So, here's my take on Rhubarb and Apple Bircher Muesli

400 g of rhubarb

220 ml of water

2 slices of ginger

2 tea spoons of honey (or a sugar substitute if you like, we have tried coconut sugar once but it just didn't work for us in combo with the rhubarb)

400 g of cooking apples (Bramley is perfect)

11/2 cups of rolled oats (we like the jumbo variety but use whichever you like)

1/2 cup of Jake's Boost Superboost Spread

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 pinch of vanilla

250 g of Greek yoghurt (or quark if you can get it)

2 handfuls of chopped mixed nuts and seeds (pick your favourites, if you like pecans, hazelnuts or pumpkin seeds, we think, they taste best roasted as the roasting enhances their flavour)

Peel and chop the apples into small pieces, pop them into the pan with the water and let it simmer over a low heat. Cut two good-sized slices of ginger (if you cut them a decent size, you'll be able to find them more easily once everything in the pan has cooked down) and let them simmer with the apples.

Peel some of the stringy bits of the rhubarb and cut into 2-3 cm big chunks, add to the apples and ginger and let simmer until soft. Strain the rhubarb cooking juices into a bowl and set rhubarb aside.

Mix together cooking juice, yoghurt/quark, 1 handful of nut/seed mix cinnamon, vanilla, Jake's Boost and oats with half of the rhubarb. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight.

After a long full of anticipation, serve muesli with a couple of spoonfuls of rhubarb that you have left over and sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top.

The amount above will serve 2 very hungry people. Powerful fuel for a great start to the day for adults and children alike.

#Recipe #BircherMuesli #JakesSuperboostRecipe