rhubarb meringue

Back in season: rhubarb. It tastes very sour, that kind of sour that the enamel of your teeth almost cracks. That's because of the oxalic acid. The sourness may be reduced by adding sugar. Or lime, which also is added in some recipes.

This oxalic acid is also the reason that you may not eat rhubarb very often. Rhubarb is in fact poisonous in large quantities. But 1x per week a small portion won't hurt.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb can be prepared in various ways. Most of the times it is cooked with sugar to a butter. If you peel it before cooking, you get a green rhubarb compote. When you add the peel the butter becomes pretty red. Rhubarb butter is a delicious side dish to your dinner.

You can also make glazed rhubarb with honey as an ingredient to your couscous.

And did you know that rhubarb with salt (uncooked) is a snack in Kurdistan?

I myself find rhubarb compote delicious as a dessert. And the recipe for this desert is flavorful. Sour and sweet rhubarb compote covered with a crunchy sweet meringue. Truly delicious.

Because:

• we add some vinegar to the egg whites, the stiffened egg whites are more stable and stays airy.
• we add icing sugar instead of caster sugar to the egg whites, the sugar won't be crumbly in our meringue.
• we cook in grape juice instead of water, we have to add less sweeteners like honey and sugar.
• we use a fat-free bowl for mixing our egg whites, our whites will stiffen when beating. You can easily obtain that by washing your bowl and whisk in hot water with some detergent and rinse it thoroughly afterwards.

Recipe: Rhubarb meringue

Ingrediënts:

• 500 grams of rhubarb
• 500 ml grape juice
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon custard, dissolved in 30 ml grape juice
• 3 egg whites
• 150 grams icing sugar
• ½ teaspoon vinegar

Instructions:

1. Wash the rhubarb and cut into small pieces.
2. Add them to a pan and pour the juice, sugar and honey in.
3. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat (the moisture is then almost completely evaporated).
4. Stir the custard solution through the rhubarb and scoop into the quiche molds.
5. Beat the egg whites in a bowl until they are stiff.
6. Stir in the icing sugar spoon for spoon in there, while continuing to beat.
7. Finally, add the vinegar and turn of the mixer.
8. Divide the foam on the top of the rhubarb.
9. Put 10 minutes under the grill so that the foam nicely caramelizes.