Always wash your rhubarb really well.
Use a chopping board to chop the rhubarb stalks. Don’t use the back of your thumb. It leads to ‘old lady cracked thumb chopping syndrome’, and it’s tricky to get rid of.
Be careful not to overfill your baking dish.
cityhippyfarmgirl 
YUM! I made persimmon crumble the other night which was pretty good too : )
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Wow Keri, that sounds good. I can’t even recall what persimmon tastes like. I think I may have tried it just the once.
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I’d never tried persimmon till I made the crumble! It’s kind of sweet but light at the same time – very nice : )
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I HAVE had the ‘old lady cracked thumb chopping syndrome’ !
It took me several weeks of coconut oil and shea butter warmed and slathered on the area!
I love the photo of the slug. Although I HATE slugs or is that a snail?
Your crumble is lovely. I made rhubarb fizz for the Tea to go event- Rhubarb Fizz – fortified with lemon and orange juice and a simple syrup of sugar and rhubarb cooked until it falls to almost a sauce- them fizzed up with gingerale or seltzer water- it is yum!
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Snail, icky thing it is. Sitting in the foliage he was, and yes I think they are disgusting slime bags as well.
The thumb, I’m a slathering!
Your rhubarb fizz sounds lovely Heidi. I hope you get time to get a photo or two for Saturday.
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Poor little snail. At least it had a good last meal.
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Little slime bag could have had a feast in there.
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I have never been able to get used to rhubard – not sure why as my whole family love it. your crumble looks superb.
🙂 Mandy
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I love rhubarb, it’s such an odd plant.
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I bit into a snail once on some lettuce. I am with you on the always wash the rhubarb. My rhubarb is just peaking out of the soil to say hello.
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Oh, oh oh!!!! A bite! Since buying more from markets and CSA boxes I have washed a lot more as there is quite often a cling on hiding in there somewhere. Generally I don’t mind as it means (to me) nothing nasty was sprayed/used on it… that being said, I have never bitten in to one.
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But how do you make it? (for non-dessert makers such as myself) any tips for a gluten-free crumble?
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Sonya I did a post recently on a basic crumble mixture. For this one though I made it more of an American style cobbler.
100gms melted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 cup self raising flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp lemon zest. Mix it all through, and it’s looking a little dry. This is where I add a little water, it will look like a thick porridge and I just slap it down in spoonfuls on top of the cooked apple and rhubarb. (The water sounds wrong, but it does work!) At 180C until golden.
Gluten free… I’m out of my depth unfortunately. Oats definitely quite often find there way into my crumbles if oats are ok for you, and I also like almond meal as well. Using a combination of the two I think would work with the sugar/butter/lemon/cinnamon…. hmm, I’ll have to play. Are oats generally ok for gluten free diets?
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For a GF crumble, instead of the oats, you can use almond or hazelnut meal, dessicated coconut/ moist coconut flakes, quinoa, amaranth or chia!
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Also, seeds & nuts make a good crunch too! (OK, sorry chfg, backing off now!!)
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haven’t bought rhubarb yet this winter – I must – but I have to get out to the markets as the stuff in the supermarkets just looks so sad – love the bubbling crumblie overflowing as long as you don’t have to clean it off the oven
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Yep, I got some market rhubarb and it was deeelicious. I was lucky enough to have another dish cooking underneath that didn’t mind the crumble juice drippage.
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Ha ha, good tips indeed – crunchy rhubarb doesn’t sound to appealing. So is winter the season for rhubarb in Oz?
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You know what I’m really not sure. I thought rhubarb was available in a lot of places year round, with a peak in the cooler weather(??) The market lady I bought it from does have a hothouse though…
Maybe some knowledgable person can set me straight with this.
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It is! (Sorry to reply again chfg!) Choclette, check this great link out: http://www.mygreenaustralia.com/2010/08/australian-fruit-and-vegetable-season-list/
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Thanks dixiebell – I did check out the link and I learnt that rhubarb is in season all year round in Australia. Not so over here in the UK, but I guess we do have rather different climates 😉
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Sigh. I’m the queen of chopping things against my thumb. Lucky rhubarb is red. 🙂
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My thumb looks like a road map at the moment
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Crumblicious!
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When I finished cheffing full time I was delighted when my hands & fingers returned to normal size, never realized how muscley fingers get till I stopped the endless chopping, so sympathies with the old ladies thumb girl, but give it time, your girly fingers & thumbs will be back in no time.
Love your pics too 🙂
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Thanks Anna.
The imagery I got of your muscley fingers 🙂
I think those girl fingers of mine are going to take some sweet time unfortunately. (Bread kneading though, is good for the forearms!)
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Yum, except the snail! Yes, I know those thumbs well, mine are more… ‘old lady cracked thumb gardening syndrome’!
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They are lovely thumbs aren’t they 🙂
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I have cracked thumbs but not from crumble – just the turn of the season which I’m otherwise loving. Would love it more if the crumble found it’s way into my hands though! Just out of interest, what did you have baking on the rack below?
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A funny russian dish number with some of the best bacon I have tasted!
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Looks fab! I love crumble and don’t eat it nearly often enough!
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It’s a super easy dish to do isn’t it.
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I love apple crisp in the fall and strawberry rhubarb in the spring…just a few more weeks until the strawberries are ready! I hate old lady thumb cuts…I learned the hard way when freezing way too much rhubarb last summer, but I had a bumper crop and felt obligated…
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Ooh, I did this thumb naughty that you describe – at the primary school last week. Definitely not the best way to teach kids how to chop small carrots!!
If we had a meat cleaver it would be tempting at times to pull it out for chopping (hacking) rhubarb – I find some of it really tough! Lovely looking crumble/cobbler you have there 🙂
PS I love a good dribble down the sides too…it tells us that it is well and truly cooked to juicy perfection!
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Oooooooooooooo yum I love overflowing crumble (although not the cleaning it up bit). Can you believe I haven’t had crumble once this Autumn!! Must set that to rights this weekend!!
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Hee hee, I love a bubbling crumble too and I always use a board. The season of small beasties living in the fridge is nigh… earwigs last year…. though I don’t think I’ve had a snail before. Shh don’t tell everyone or they’ll all want one ( I know, it was my Grandpa’s joke!) 😀
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Yum! Even though it isn’t smart to overload a baking dish, I just love the look of the crumble filling streaming down the outside of the dish! Delicious!
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