Rhubarb’s family tree suggests it’s closers to being a vegetable than a fruit but its thick, fleshy, pink stalks are treated as fruit despite their tart flavour. It grows in two crops each year so is available from January to June. It can be used in savoury or sweet dishes and this light and fluffy Rhubarb Fool shows off its zingy flavour fantastically!
Skills Check
Follow a recipe; follow food safety & hygiene rules; tidy away; chop using bridge/claw knife technique safely; use a jug to measure liquids, use weighing scales; use a citrus squeezer; crack an egg, separate an egg; use an electric whisk and hob with adult supervision; decorate
Equipment
Chopping board, sharp knife, weighing scales, measuring jug, citrus squeezer, 2 bowls, pan, hand or electric whisk, spoon, slotted spoon, small glasses or bowls
Allergens ( Please note the allergens listed are indicative only. Allergens vary depending on brand; check the labels on the products you use)
Eggs | Milk
Ingredients (serves 4):
- 350g rhubarb
- 55g caster sugar
- 1 orange, juice only
- 150ml double/whipping cream
- 1 egg white
- water
Method
- Cut the rhubarb into roughly 2cm chunks and place in the pan with the sugar.
- Squeeze the orange and add the juice to the pan. If the rhubarb is not covered, add just enough water so it is. Boil rapidly until the rhubarb is soft. Allow to cool.
- Crack and separate the egg. Whisk the white until peaks form.
- In a separate bowl whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Be careful – it can quickly get too hard!
- Carefully fold the egg white into the whipped cream until just combined.
- Remove the rhubarb from any remaining liquid with a slotted spoon.
- Carefully fold it into the cream mixture, keeping some to decorate with.
- Divide the fool between the glasses and decorate with some rhubarb.
- Refrigerate until needed.
So thinking about Rhubarb Fool...
Rhubarb is a fantastic source of vitamin C, potassium and fibre.
Sugar that is added to our foods is not necessary for a healthy diet and too much sugar is very bad for our health.
Cream is an excellent source of protein and calcium, and a good source of vitamins A and D. But it also very high in fat, particularly saturated fat.
The Eatwell guide says that if you do consume foods and drinks high in fat, salt and sugar then you should have these less often and in small amounts.
Nutritional Information
| Energy | 1066kJ/256kcal | 13% | |
| Med | Fat | 19.0g | 27% |
| High | Saturates | 12.0g | 60% |
| Med | Sugars | 16.0g | 18% |
| Low | Salt | 0.04g | 1% |
per 161g serving
% of an adult's reference intake
Typical values per 100g: Energy 662kJ / 159kcal
Notes
A traffic light system is used on nutrition labels to make it easier to see which foods and drinks are lower in calories, fat, sugar and salt. Try and choose more ‘greens’ and ‘ambers’ and fewer ‘reds’, and stick to smaller portions of ‘reds’.
Just because a recipe or a food has a red traffic light doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Understanding why a food or recipe might have a red light can be helpful. For example oily fish is high in total fat and so any recipe containing oily fish is likely to be ‘red’ for fat. But it is recommended that we eat oily fish at least once a week because the type of fat it contains is beneficial for our health.
% Reference Intakes are also shown. Reference Intakes are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet (based on an average-sized woman doing an average amount of physical activity). Most children will require less than these Reference Intakes. The contribution of one serving of a food or drink to the Reference Intake for each nutrient is expressed as a percentage.
