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

[CoalTit]

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?

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?

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

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.

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

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...

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

Yet another MNetter who has trouble speaking.

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

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.

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

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’. 🙄😂

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!!

Rhubarb gin. Returned as a Christmas gift.

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

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

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

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.

All of this.

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.

I'll have it!

Yes please!

This made me laugh. My late DF used to grow massive marrows. He always wanted my DM to take them to relatives when she visited. My DM used to ‘accidentally’ leave the marrow on the bus. Dad was none the wiser. I remember my DS when he was little would pretend he was tossing the caber using one of the marrows in the garden 😂. We had been to the Highland Games. Maybe marrow tossing could become a sport?

Try strewing you rhubarb with strawberries, not apples, it's MUCH nicer.

yes we often have strawberry and rhubarb crumble.

I grow alot of veg and when I have a summer glut, I often make up a little freezer bag and hang over my neighbours fence on each side.

I'll have to rethink if tomatoes, cucumbers and runner beans are 'hard to use' vegetables for them? 🤔