Cooks' Corner

[maggiepie]

Erika, your wedding cakes are fabulous!!
Especially the last one.
 

[mark smyth]

Thank you :-) should I open a bakery in Aberdeen?

One in N Ireland also - yum

[mark smyth]

I brought US cousins to the same restaurant ....

My US cousins dont know what Rhubarb is and asked a good question "is it a vegetable or fruit?"

Is it only eaten in the GB and Ireland?

[mark smyth]

ROTFLOL at the wedding couple

[mark smyth]

off wikipedia ..

Rhubarb is usually considered to be a vegetable; however, in the United States, a New York court decided in 1947 that since it was used in the United States as a fruit it was to be counted as a fruit for the purposes of regulations and duties. A side effect was a reduction in taxes paid

[Lori S.]

Is it only eaten in the GB and Ireland?

No, but I think it is only familiar to those of a certain age who remember back when every yard here had a vegetable garden complete with rhubarb.  That said, every garden center here sells it, but having a garden is much less common than it once was, and even more so for vegetable gardens.

[johnw]

I said ?black because the the figs, halved and very sweet, were very dark red. I should have taken photos or go back and ask for it as a takeaway.

Mark - The first link I gave you was wrong and is now corrected.  Perhaps black Bursa figs?

johnw

[David Nicholson]

David who sells it?

Local small business manufacturer and sold in a local farm shop.

http://www.reallynicerecipes.com/recipe/sauces/fig-chutney

[David Nicholson]

I brought US cousins to the same restaurant ....

My US cousins dont know what Rhubarb is and asked a good question "is it a vegetable or fruit?"

Is it only eaten in the GB and Ireland?

Something else Yorkshire is famous for. Good old Rhubarb is now very trendy and much used by trendy chefs.

http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/HistoricWakefield/Rhubarb/default.htm

[Anthony Darby]

It's grown and sold here in New Zealand! Rhubarb (fresh, forced), rhubarb crumble, rhubarb and ginger jam, and rhubarb tarts are sold in most butchers and supermarkets in Scotland.

[Lesley Cox]

Back to your meal out Mark, surely you can figure it out?

I've never seen forced rhubarb here in NZ but it's a very popular fruit/veg through about 3/4 of the year for all those things Anthony mentions, and just chopped into chunks and microwaved with brown sugar makes a great fruit for cereal at breakfast. Rhubarb and ginger icecream (home-made) is my favourite. We have two big clumps but I still have to buy it at the market sometimes. I think of it as a fruit because everything done with it involves sugar whereas I always consider tomatoes to be a vegetable, being a savoury food rather than sweet. But it's a fruit of course, the source of the seeds.

I need to spend some time in this thread, 2 choc cakes, the Aberdeen sausage and now the icecream to post.

[Casalima]

I believe rhubarb has even reached Portugal, though as I live out in the sticks I haven't actually seen it in shops. I haven't actually tasted rhubarb since the traumatic experience of "rhubarb & custard" at primary school ...   

[Anthony Darby]

I wish we'd had rhubarb and custard at primary school. Chocolate haystacks, semolina, yuk!

[mark smyth]

THanks for the link, David

Today I made mango, strawberry and lime juice fruit salad. Oh my - fabulous

[Lesley Cox]

It does sound very good Mark, a nice mixture of sweet and slightly sour.

I've sometimes wondered if the tongue smiley means sticking one's tongue out at someone, or licking one's lips. I mean the latter this time.