Easy to Make Rhubarb Fool Recipe
This Rhubarb Fool Recipe is a delicious and very easy summer dessert. It is light, refreshing, and can be eaten as a frozen, no-bake dessert or simply straight from the fridge!
When to Harvest Rhubarb
Contrary to popular belief, rhubarb can be harvested all season long. However, the later you harvest in the season, the harder it is on the plant. Do most of your rhubarb harvest in the spring and early summer, which gives the rhubarb plenty of time to recover before fall sets in. For a recipe of this size, which in my massive rhubarb patch stakes about three stalks, I would feel comfortable harvesting that at any time during the summer.
If your plant has already put out seed heads, you can still continue to harvest the rhubarb. The stalks will be a little less sweet, but they will still have enough great rhubarb flavor to use in desserts or even savory dishes.
How to Harvest Rhubarb
Rhubarb stalks should be pulled, not cut. Reach your hand down as far as you can along the stalk, then give it a good firm upward pull. Sometimes adding in a little bit of a twist helps, but in either case it should lift out of the crown (the base of the plant just under ground) with relative ease.
Some folks cut their rhubarb, but this isn’t necessarily the best option for the plant’s health. When you pull the rhubarb, you clear away the stalk completely and it encourages the plant to put on new growth. If you cut the stalk, you take away that new growth stimulation. Additionally, when you cut a stalk you are essentially leaving a big open wound on the plant for disease, pests, etc. to enter in through the cut.
Ingredients for Rhubarb Fool Recipe
- 3 Cups or 1 Lb Chopped Rhubarb
- 1/3-1/2 Cup Sugar to Taste
- Zest and Juice of 1 Orange or 2 Little Ones, or about 1/4-1/2 Cup Orange Juice
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 2-3 Tbsp Powdered Sugar
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- Red Food Coloring (Optional)
How to Make Rhubarb Fool (Rhubarb Compote)
Begin by chopping the rhubarb into roughly one-inch pieces and putting them into a medium saucepan.
To the rhubarb add the sugar, orange zest and orange juice.
Cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. You don’t want completely stewed rhubarb, so some solid formed, yet smooshy, pieces are okay. If you overcook it, you’ll get a texture that is kind of stringy. If you cook it just until tender, then you’ll get more easily chewed pieces of rhubarb.
Remove the mixture from the heat and smoosh it up a little bit with a potato masher or other good smashing utensil. Give it a taste. If it isn’t quite as sweet as you like, add in more sugar one tablespoon at a time and stir thoroughly until it is dissolved.
If you don’t have particularly red rhubarb stalks, you can add red food coloring of your choice until you get that lovely pink color. My rhubarb plants are prolific and very delicious, but unfortunately they don’t have the brightest colored stems.
Allow the rhubarb mixture to cool completely to room temperature.
While that cools, whip up the heavy cream. In a medium sized bowl, pour in the cream, the powdered sugar, and vanilla. Whip until stiff peaks form, which will take about five minutes. Some recipes I’ve seen call for soft peaks, but I find getting them a little stiffer helps the final structure be a little sturdier.
Next, take the rhubarb mixture and spread it out evenly across the top of the whipped cream.
Using a spatula, fold in the rhubarb mixture gently, so you get beautiful streaks of rhubarb among the white.
Chill in the fridge for two hours for a soft texture, or in the freezer for four hours to get more of a sorbet.
Keep in the fridge or freezer and use within a few days.
Serving Your Fool
I think a fool looks beautiful served in wine glasses or another clear glass serving dish. Glass-sided dishes allow you to really appreciate the ruby red stripes of the dessert and up the classy level to “Martha Stewart Garden Party”.
This recipe is delicious all on its own, but you can also add in a sprinkle of crush graham crackers, vanilla wafers, or Biscoff cookies. You can also use the fool in place of ice cream. A big scoop of it on top of angel food cake would be heavenly.
Variations
You can play with many variations on this rhubarb fool recipe! Try adding in a few strawberries when you cook it down for a delicious strawberry rhubarb fool. You can add a splash of white wine to bring out the flavors and booze it up a little bit.
Rather than using orange juice you can try other citrus fruits! Lemon juice, or grapefruit juice would make for a vibrant and refreshing flavors.
Fools, also sometimes called compotes, can be made using a variety of fruits! While a tart fruit will yield the best results in my opinion (think late summer cherries) you can also do strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and so on. Anything in the berry family is going to give you something delicious!
More Rhubarb Recipes!
- Rhubarb Cordial (Simple Syrup)
- Ooey Gooey Rhubarb Bars
- Moist and Light Rhubarb Cake
Ingredients
Method
- Begin by chopping the rhubarb into roughly one-inch pieces and putting them into a medium saucepan.
- To the rhubarb add the sugar, orange zest and orange juice.
- Cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and smoosh it up a little bit with a potato masher or other good smashing utensil. Give it a taste. If it isn’t quite as sweet as you like, add in more sugar one tablespoon at a time and stir thoroughly until it is dissolved.
- Optional: add red food coloring of your choice until you get that lovely pink color.
- Allow the rhubarb mixture to cool completely to room temperature.
- In a medium sized bowl, pour in the cream, the powdered sugar, and vanilla.
- Whip until stiff peaks form, which will take about five minutes.
- Next, take the rhubarb mixture and spread it out evenly across the top of the whipped cream.
- Using a spatula, fold in the rhubarb mixture gently, so you get beautiful streaks of rhubarb among the white.
- Chill in the fridge for two hours for a soft texture, or in the freezer for four hours to get more of a sorbet.
- Keep in the fridge or freezer and use within a few days.
