Rhubarb Cake

Yesterday, my friend Sharon gave me a big batch of rhubarb, so I pulled out my 1973 copy of Putting Food By to find out about freezing some of it. This was the book I used to preserve everything from apples to zucchini back when we had a big vegetable garden and an orchard.

Inside were some interesting artifacts. For instance, from the April 1997 issues of The Atlantic, there was a long article by Corby Kummer on making marmalade, and on the back of the first page of the article there were three poems by one of my favorite poets, W.S. Merwin. There were recipes from Charlie's mom for making hot relish, pickled tomatoes, and chow-chow.

There were lists. Alison's shots. Registation UNM. And then so I wouldn't forget: UM registration. I don't remember who the Poehlman and Burdick people were.

On the other side was another pickle recipe. Linda knows the place, but who was Linda? Virgil Salce, I remember, was a farmer out in Corrales.

I used to pay the kids a nickel a bag for the fruit they picked in the orchard. We didn't always have a good apricot crop, but when we did, I made jam. In winter, it tasted like sunshine. If you decide to try this, "1 box" is probably one box of pectin.






Back to the rhubarb. Here is Sharon's recipe for the very good, very easy cake she made for yesterday's brunch. I was able to freeze enough to make 4 cakes!

Rhubarb Cake

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. butter

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. soda

2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. rhubarb

Mix everything together.

Pour the mixture into a greased cake pan.

Sprinkle the top with 1/2 c. sugar.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.