Here are three recipes that go together to make up a rhubarb feast – make it now, before the season's over, writes DOMINI KEMP

RHUBARB IS SUCH a delicious fruit – although technically it’s a vegetable – and originally native to Asia. It was highly regarded in China for its medicinal qualities as far back as 206 BC and was very important in terms of trade during the 10th century.

Eventually it filtered over to Britain during the 16th century, where it was again initially valued for its medicinal qualities, especially its ability to settle the stomach and for its “purgative” qualities, which sounds a bit nicer than “mild laxative”. It made its way into tarts and pies during the 1800s and nowadays, it is one of our favourite crumble and pie fillings.

Somewhere in the back of my head, there’s always a little reminder that there’s something poisonous about rhubarb. It’s mainly to do with the oxalic acid, which although it is present in small amounts in the edible stalks (similar to amounts in spinach or Swiss chard), is found in larger doses in the leaves. You would have to eat about 10lbs of leaves before you would croak it, but apparently even small doses of the leaves could make you rather unwell.

Sadly, eating the leaves was recommended during the first World War in Britain as a way of getting vegetables into the diet. This advice was withdrawn when a number of deaths were recorded, but appears to have been repeated during the second World War, which is a horrible thought. Thankfully, we know better nowadays.

So, the bottom line is that the stalks are fine, but don’t go near the leaves. With that in mind, here is what I can only describe as a rhubarb feast. There’s a rhubarb curd that can be used to make a simple ice cream, some brown sugar meringues (which send me hurtling back to the 1980s) and a rhubarb compote to spoon on top. Make one or all three recipes. They go superbly with each other, or are delicious on their own, and should be enjoyed as the last weeks of the rhubarb season make way for summertime fruits.

We found that in one recipe, 450g of rhubarb stems yielded 300g of nicely chopped bits of firm, ready to cook rhubarb, while in another, 600g of stalks yielded 300g of rhubarb. It really depends on what condition the rhubarb is in. It’s not fond of any sort of heat, so will wilt and disintegrate more quickly if old and left out of the fridge. But, as a guide, allow roughly double the quantity of stems for the appropriate amount of ready-to-cook rhubarb.

Rhubarb curd yoghurt ice cream

This comes from an oldie: ‘Leith’s Seasonal Bible’ by CJ Jackson and Belinda Kassapian. Serves 4-6

300g chopped rhubarb stems

50ml water

2 tsp stem ginger in syrup, finely chopped

4 egg yolks, beaten

170g caster sugar

110g butter, cut into cubes

290ml Greek-style yoghurt

Put the rhubarb in a saucepan with the water, cover with a lid and gently poach until it breaks down. Pass through a sieve to extract all the lovely rhubarb juice. Mush it with the back of a wooden spoon rather than a metal spoon, to avoid imparting a metallic taste. In a clean saucepan, preferably non-stick, heat the rhubarb juice along with the chopped ginger, eggs, caster sugar and butter. Mix really well and eventually it will thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon. Season with more ginger syrup or sugar, if necessary. Allow this to cool then stir in the yoghurt. Mix well and freeze the ice cream in a plastic container for a few hours or overnight.

Ginger and brown sugar meringues

Makes 10 big meringues

4 egg whites

30g caster sugar

200g Demerara sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

Pre-heat an oven to 140 degrees/gas mark one. Cover two baking sheets with baking parchment. Whisk the egg whites until stiff. Add the caster sugar and whisk until the mixture is shiny. Fold in the brown sugar and ginger. Spoon five blobs of meringue mixture on to each tray and bake for about an hour. Allow them to cool before peeling them off the parchment paper. Serve with ice cream and compote.

Rhubarb compote

300g chopped, prepared rhubarb stems

Juice of 1 lemon

Zest and juice of 1 orange

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp stem ginger syrup

This couldn’t be simpler. Heat up all the ingredients until the rhubarb is soft, but still a bit chunky. Taste to see if it is sweet enough. Allow to cool and spoon this on to anything and everything you fancy.