I can't remember eating rhubarb pie since I was a child. My favorite rhubarb memories are of the garden in the yard of Grandpa and Grandma Harris in Wallace, Idaho, where Grandma grew all sorts of flowers, fruits and vegetables. One of the most amazing to me, when I was very young, was rhubarb. It was so unusual. It tasted so bitter! But then Grandma would make it into a pie, and it tasted to sweet and delicious!
Later, when I was 5 years old, our family lived on a farm and had a half-acre garden. We also grew rhubarb, and Mom made rhubarb pies. They were just as delicious.
Suddenly, here we are in the North Country - British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska - and everyone grows rhubarb. I think it's because rhubarb does so well in the cold north with the short growing season. We had one chance to pick some free rhubarb at one of our RV campgrounds, but we were so busy with other things, we didn't get around to it.
Finally, when we were in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, the local farmers market had a stand selling rhubarb, and we picked some up. Kathy found a suitable recipe in the tried-and-true Good Housekeeping Cookbook - 1949 Edition - same as Grandma Harris's and Mom's - and off we started, headlong into Rhubarb Heaven.
We gathered all the ingredients. Rhubarb is sour and needs sweetness added. We decided other fruits were more suitable than lots of sugar, and if one fruit is good, many are better! So we added cherries, apples and raspberries to our rhubarb:
As much as Baxter and Flip wanted us to (and despite Baxter's sneaky attempt to toss some in our ingredients), we decided not to add Temptations Cat Treats to the other ingredients.
We cut the sugar way down, glopped everything together, and Kathy formed the pie shell to receive the goods. Vicki's, Mike's and Nick's spotted cows look on in approval:
Kathy put the lid on and pinched the crust. William joined the group and gave his sunny approval:
After the requisite time in the oven, out came the finished pie. Even Grandma Harris would be proud of this beauty! Note the suitable rack supports. When you RV, you learn to give everything multiple uses.
What could make Happy Hour happier than a big, heaping slice of Grandma's Rhubarb-Apple-Cherry-Raspberry Pie?
Kathy took hers heated with melted cheddar cheese on top. I took mine - heated or cold - with a heaping helping of cottage cheese on the side.
Bon appetit!
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