[Rhubarb Strawberry Compote] A Great Way to Enjoy Rhubarb - Delicious accompaniment to Ice Cream

This year's first strawberry picking was a great success, not because of the strawberries, but mainly because of the rhubarb with which I made compote! 

I didn't know until this year that the Ovens farm also has "pick-your-own" rhubarb! :) Unfortunately, there is no photo of rhubarb patch because of the drizzling rain.

We go to strawberry/raspberry picking every year, simply to pick the most fresh strawberries and enjoy the field. 

It's not necessarily cheaper to drive down to Osgoode and pick our own strawberries, but we can pick small and pretty berries. 

I love all kinds of berries. It's why I love late spring/summer since berry prices go down so much. Last weekend, we went to Ovens Berry farm in Osgoode. 

It became our routine to go there at least a couple of times every year. We met up with a friend's family for the picking. It started drizzling, but it didn't bother the picking much, while it did hinder shooting photos. :( It still was fun  even without many photos. 

We were lucky that they just had started raspberry picking. And for the first time at Ovens farm, I pulled a few stalks of rhubarb. 12 stalks of rhubarbs were for the compote which could be also called fruit sauce. I paid $3 for 12 stalks. I made the compote in that evening. The compote made with 12 stalks of rhubarb and 2 pounds of field strawberries are almost gone now :( I should have bought more rhubarb. 

We paid $18.72 for all of these.

We are thinking going back to the Ovens farm very soon. If the only way you consume rhubarb is to make pie filling, how about making this yummy rhubarb compote?  Compoter verb is 'to stew' in English. So we could say that compote is a fancier name of stewed fruit. :) Compoter, or stewing, is the most forgiving and flexible way of cooking. You can add or reduce the amount of any of the ingredients mentioned in the recipe(?). Also, a couple of minced ginger will give a nice flavour to the sauce. Here goes the recipe. The photo of the ingredients was too blurred to use :(. But I can assure you that this recipe has the simplest ingredients!)

Ingredients

8-12 stalks rhubarb

2-3 lbs strawberries

1/2 - 1 cup sugar (according to your taste)
1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons minced ginger root* (optional)

Directions

1. Wash and slice rhubarb crosswise. You don't need to slice or chop too fine. Anyway it will lose its shape once stewed.

2. Wash before you halve or quarter strawberries.

3. Place strawberries and rhubarb in a heavy-bottomed large saucepan.

4. Combine all ingredients.

5. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. 

Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until rhubarb is very soft and begins to fall apart, stirring occasionally, about 3-40 minutes.

So easy, eh? :)

You can serve it warm, room temperature, or cold. It's right at any temperature :)

I've brought it in a ziploc container for my snack to work three days in a row~ It's much nicer than apple sauce.

It's good by itself.

But, the best of the best ways to enjoy rhubarb compote is topping the vanilla ice cream. It's such a delightful treat for anybody!

Enjoy! :)

Rhubarb Strawberry Compote