Rhubarb Crunch Recipe from the Past

Growing up on a farm wasn't always easy, clean or fun. I know. I know. I learned a great work ethic there that still lingers in my Midwestern soul.

Things were tough financially and everyone pitched in, despite any arguments we might have had. Gardening (well, mostly hoeing and pulling weeds became the children's job) was a mainstay from June through August. That was just part of the duties added on to walking soybean fields to tear out cornstalks, shoveling hog manure from the farrowing house and mowing our gargantuan lawn.

I swear our garden was half the length of a football field. My mom and dad planted everything from flowers to mammoth-sized zucchini squash to delicate sweet peas to popcorn, yep, popcorn.

Besides being a great gardener, my mother also knew how to cook up the stuff she harvested. I became her prodigy at cooking, and I still to this day use her recipes from the farm even though she is no longer with us.

I still love fresh vegetables right out of the garden - not my own. I go to a nearby farmer's market to buy all the things I want.

But that one vegetable that just amazed me was rhubarb. It's beautiful red stalks seemed almost regal and seemed to be so versatile. My mother put it practically in everything because it was so plentiful.

Everyone always thought it was a fruit. But I knew better. It's kind of like the confusing tomato. Everyone just assumes it's a vegetable because that's how people use it. It must be hard to be misunderstood for so long.

Most cooks use rhubarb in pies, crunches, cakes, breads and dessert recipes. But like my clever mom, you can throw it in stews, soups, sauces, jams and salads. If you have the inclination and equipment to do it, you can also make a very tasty wine from it.

A small town in my area -- Aledo, Ill. - celebrates this hardy vegetable during its annual Rhubarb Festival. They come up with some phenomenal recipes to serve the crowds like rhubarb cheesecake, rhubarb sorbet and rhubarb meatloaf (just kidding on that last one).