Stir it up: Tart rhubarb a fresh taste of spring

Think of a long, bleak, 19th-century New England winter, when food was running low and a typical meal might be salt pork, milk gravy and, if you had "put by" enough in the fall, some pickles.

It's no wonder that, come early spring, New Englanders - and others in northern climes - greeted rhubarb with joy. Rhubarb is one of the first plants to sprout from the still-chilly soil, and with its tart, bright taste, it wakes up the taste buds like nothing else.

Like so many foods (think honey or wheat, not Twinkies or Go-Gurt), rhubarb goes back to ancient times, when its powdered root was used for medicinal purposes. According to "The Oxford Companion to Food" by Alan Davidson, the British first figured out that the stalks could be eaten; a recipe for rhubarb appeared in an 1806 English cookbook.

Rhubarb hit the U.S. about the same time, says Andrew F. Smith, editor of "The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink." It first appears in American writing in the 1833 edition of "The New Frugal Housewife" by Lydia Marie Child, who described rhubarb as "the earliest ingredient for pies" available each year. She opined that such pies were "dear" (expensive) because it took so much sugar to make the rhubarb palatable.

Rhubarb is easy to grow and increasingly easy to find in markets. Look for thin stalks (which are more tender and less stringy) that are green or have a reddish tint. It should be common knowledge that the leaves should not be eaten because they contain large amounts of oxalic acid, which can be toxic.

Ian Knauer - food writer and editor and TV personality by weekday, farmer by weekend - knows his rhubarb, along with such sharp spring delights as watercress and radishes.

His drool-worthy, seasonal cookbook, "The Farm," offers "rustic recipes for a year of incredible food." It's a delightful book, and his Rhubarb Crostata Pie starts the culinary year off right. The Rhubarb Torte recipe comes from a dear friend, the late Cornelia Levin of Vermont and Washington, D.C. Cornelia frequently brought this dish to neighborhood potluck suppers, and it would vanish within minutes.

More from Marialisa Calta at marialisacalta.com.