Page 2 | People who grow hard-to-use veggies should only give them away cooked and ready to eat!

CoalTit · 2026-04-17T07:16:54+00:00

I'm in the southern hemisphere and I've received a great big bunch of rhubarb to take home after a family get-together. I said it was too much to take home on the train, but then a relative turned up at my house with it a couple of days later. I do like rhubarb, in small quantities, with apple and custard, but I'm going to be buying and stewing fruit all winter to use this lot up. No-one else wanted it because it's horrible by itself. I feel indignant. I'm always grateful to be given pumpkin, but I met someone who says she accepts pumpkin to be polite, then throws it away because it's too much trouble to peel and cook. And then there are the zucchini/courgettes that have got enormous and woody because people plant too many plants then don't pick them while they're still nice to eat AIBU?

Fridayismyfunday · 17/04/2026 14:46

DrinkFeckArseBrick · 17/04/2026 10:29

Do you like cocktails OP? I've got a very nice rhubarb sour recipe!

Yes please!

nutbrownhare15 · 17/04/2026 14:20

I'll have it!

marsal · 17/04/2026 14:19

For those saying blanche and freeze the rhubarb or stew and freeze, it's even easier than that. I literally chop and freeze and it freezes well and keeps without any issue at all. It's lovely being able to pull out a bag in the depths of winter and make a delicious rhubarb crumble.

CaptainMyCaptain · 17/04/2026 14:18

7238SM · 17/04/2026 08:26

YABU. None of the plants listed are hard to use! I thought you were going to say tapioca or something exotic that needs washing and boiling 10x to remove the cyanide and toxins!

Stew and freeze
Donate to a food bank
Give to a neighbour
Put a sign out the front 'free'
Or make it clearer you don't want it!

As for overgrown zucchinis, we call them marrows in the UK. These recipes are good and the jam is excellent IMO:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/marrow-ginger-jam
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stuffed_marrow_43279
www.rachelredlaw.com/recipes2/2018/9/17/thai-style-stuffed-marrow

Edited

All of this.

LikeAFeverDream · 17/04/2026 13:57

XenaBallerina · 17/04/2026 13:53

I’d politely decline and say that I don’t eat it and it’s wasted on me but thankyou anyway.

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Yes, but you read the OP and still said lucky you, knowing that OP didn’t want them. Hopefully OP learns to say no thank you, but many people seem to struggle with that.

XenaBallerina · 17/04/2026 13:53

LikeAFeverDream · 17/04/2026 13:47

Would you feel lucky if you were given something that you didn’t want?

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I’d politely decline and say that I don’t eat it and it’s wasted on me but thankyou anyway.

canuckup · 17/04/2026 13:49

Courgette is great peeled and diced and put in soups/curries/tacos. If you leave the peel on it's green - small people not happy

Also:https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/219920/chocolate-chip-zucchini-bread/

Great recipe, makes two loaves

LikeAFeverDream · 17/04/2026 13:47

XenaBallerina · 17/04/2026 13:44

I absolutely love rhubarb. I’d be so happy to be gifted a huge bunch. I make rhubarb and ginger jam so I can add extra ginger and make it how I like to eat it.
Its also so easy to roast it and then freeze into small portions (or large) so throughout the year when it’s out of season you can defrost and mix with cream and yoghurt for a speedy fool or make a crumble.
Lucky you!!

Would you feel lucky if you were given something that you didn’t want?

MyGammyEye · 17/04/2026 13:46

Rhubarb gin. Returned as a Christmas gift.

XenaBallerina · 17/04/2026 13:44

I absolutely love rhubarb. I’d be so happy to be gifted a huge bunch. I make rhubarb and ginger jam so I can add extra ginger and make it how I like to eat it.
Its also so easy to roast it and then freeze into small portions (or large) so throughout the year when it’s out of season you can defrost and mix with cream and yoghurt for a speedy fool or make a crumble.
Lucky you!!

LikeAFeverDream · 17/04/2026 13:42

You need to get better at saying no and/or just being ok with getting rid of things people give you that you don’t want.

We have a relative that used to try to push her rhubarb and marrows on us and would get really offended when we said no thank you as we wouldn’t use them. She doesn’t push them onto us anymore, but now every year, we get ‘of course, you won’t want any because my rhubarb/marrows aren’t good enough for you’. 🙄😂

parakeet · 17/04/2026 13:37

Carece · 17/04/2026 08:23

My MIL has form for this. I'm grateful for the pumpkins now, because I have time to wrestle with them and prepare them... but wasn't so grateful when I had a baby and a toddler to wrangle at the same time.

And the courgettes! Every year she complains how many courgettes she has. She gives them to all the neighbours as well as to us (I secretly pass them on to my neighbours too). She practically lives on courgettes for a month herself. Then the following year, she plants THE SAME NUMBER of courgettes and it all begins again. Year 12 and counting. I don't actually like courgettes, but it's too late to say so now.

Edited

Tell her a white lie, that they've started giving you indigestion, so no more please.

CarCarTruckJeep · 17/04/2026 13:27

I think YABU because I like to eat rhubarb raw. We have a relative with an allotment so get some from them, it's my favourite.

ParmaVioletTea · 17/04/2026 13:24

How is rhubarb "hard to use"? YABU and a bit of a wimp.

swqa · 17/04/2026 13:15

Yet another MNetter who has trouble speaking.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 17/04/2026 13:13

Now slightly irritated that nobody is giving me free rhubarb, and I will have to pay for some to make a crumble.

bloodredfeaturewall · 17/04/2026 13:11

rhubarb is expensive to buy. surely you can find someone who takes it off you.

I'm eagerly awaiting my yearly gift from my neighbour.
I will just cut into chunks and stew it in the oven (when it's on for something else anyway). a good portion will go towards a crumble and the rest gets frozen in small portions to add to porridge or ice cream...

Talipesmum · 17/04/2026 12:56

marsal · 17/04/2026 12:52

The best way is to lay it with the flat side against the chopping board. Cut through the rhubarb by pressing down the knife and the knife won't go through the skin. Then you can literally just peel off a long strip of skin. It is very satisfying.

No loss of flavour or colour. You don't need to do it on very small stems but on larger stems it removes some of the straggly bits which some people find off-putting.

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Thanks, I’ll try that if I ever come across any that needs it!

marsal · 17/04/2026 12:52

Talipesmum · 17/04/2026 12:43

I’ve never peeled it in my life! Always just cut it into shortish chunks. Though I suppose if it’s quite old overgrown rhubarb it might be a bit tougher. It does sound quite satisfying to peel the strips off.. I feel it would lose some of the lovely pink colour though and possibly flavour?

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The best way is to lay it with the flat side against the chopping board. Cut through the rhubarb by pressing down the knife and the knife won't go through the skin. Then you can literally just peel off a long strip of skin. It is very satisfying.

No loss of flavour or colour. You don't need to do it on very small stems but on larger stems it removes some of the straggly bits which some people find off-putting.

IceStationZebra · 17/04/2026 12:45

This is why I only grow potatoes, strawberries and herbs!

Talipesmum · 17/04/2026 12:43

marsal · 17/04/2026 11:32

To be fair, it’s far better if you do peel it. Although the paper thin skin comes off in long strips so peeling is very easy.

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I’ve never peeled it in my life! Always just cut it into shortish chunks. Though I suppose if it’s quite old overgrown rhubarb it might be a bit tougher. It does sound quite satisfying to peel the strips off.. I feel it would lose some of the lovely pink colour though and possibly flavour?

dizzydizzydizzy · 17/04/2026 12:30

It’s free food. Find a way to use it if give it away to someone who can.

Tontostitis · 17/04/2026 12:28

deplorabelle · 17/04/2026 08:22

Rhubarb is lovely and doesn't need other fruit with it. I'd be so happy to be given some. Try it with vanilla or star anise if you don't like it plain. Or make it into jam with ginger.

Pumpkin is great. Courgettes that are turning into marrows less so. But my compost heap would be grateful for anything too bad to eat.

And it freezes I tray freeze in 1 inch bits then shake into a bag and we have rhubarb and porridge in the winter. It also makes an amazing quick side for smoked mackerel. I have loads of excess fruit and veg and I put it on a table on the drive and the neighbours help themselves.

DoughnutDreamer · 17/04/2026 12:27

catipuss · 17/04/2026 11:41

I just remembered when we were young we used to eat sticks of rhubarb straight off the plants with no sugar. An acquired taste I think!

We did that as well. Our neighbour would hand all us kids a stick of rhubarb each and we’d nibble our way through it even though they were pretty sour. I think it was the novelty of being handed something picked straight from the garden. Lovely memories.

DoughnutDreamer · 17/04/2026 12:25

Well OP, I have to say that I’m very jealous. I love rhubarb so much and have been buying as much of it as I can when I’ve seen it in the supermarkets recently. I end up stewing it and then freezing it in small portions, and then I have it for breakfast with Greek yoghurt and granola. It’s so delicious. But yeah, I do get you…my mum keeps growing excessive amounts of broad beans and courgettes, and then dumping them on me because she has too many. I like courgettes but not all the time, and I hate broad beans. I always say no to broad beans, and I take some courgettes but it falls on deaf ears and I’ll find a bag of them left on my doorstep!