National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day

June 9th is National Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day in the United States.

This is another one of the more specific national days, celebrating not just a pie, but a pie that has two specific ingredients - strawberries and rhubarb.

Rhubarb, although it is usually treated as a fruit, is actually a type of vegetable. It grows from rhizomes and has long, thick stalks topped with large leaves. The stalks are the part which is eaten - other parts of the plant are poisonous. Rhubarb stalks are quite firm and need softening in order to be made into a pie, so they would usually be pre-cooked before used to fill the pie shell. Rhubarb is also quite tart to the taste, so this is usually countered with something sweet; in this case, strawberries.

National Rhubarb Day

National Rhubarb Day is on January 23rd in the United States.

Rhubarb has been cultivated for thousands of years and consists of rhizomes from which grow long, fleshy stalks known as petioles which terminate in large, somewhat triangular leaves. The stalks are the part of the plant which are eaten, and have a crunchy texture similar to celery when raw and tend to be red in colour. The leaves are not eaten, as they contain toxic substances.

Rhubarb can be grown at home in the garden in may areas, and is also a popular plant for growing indoors. In the "rhubarb triangle" in the UK rhubarb is grown in forcing sheds and harvested by candlelight, which causes the stalks to be sweeter and more tender.

Rhubarb is actually a vegetable, but usually treated like a fruit. It can be eaten raw - dipping the stalks into sugar and eating them that way is popular - or cooked. It's a popular ingredients in pies and crumbles which, as the rhubarb is treated like a fruit, are sweet dessert dishes rather than savoury ones.