Is your rhubarb crop in overdrive? Try ‘Rhubarb Nut Bread’ for the win!

by Mary Jo David

This month we’re circling back to the “Book of Favorite Recipes” compiled in 1988 by the First United Methodist Church of Waterloo. The copy I’m using belongs to SCN board member Nancy Wisman, and at this point, she’s probably wondering if she’ll ever get it back. Relax, Nancy, it’s right next to the check I owe to our board president from February and the 2025 award I need to deliver to one of our SCN editors. No worries!

As I mention almost every year around this time, my rhubarb plants are in overdrive. Mine are what I like to think of as “heirloom plants,” gifted to me from Patrice Johnson, of Stockbridge, who said they were from her mom, Willah’s, plants. From what I’ve heard, Willah Weddon was a force to be reckoned with, and it appears she certainly knew her way around growing rhubarb.

This spring, I have big plans to put up plenty of strawberry rhubarb jam, but it’s newspaper deadline time. So in an effort to stay ahead of the rhubarb crop for the short term, I cut a few stalks for this month’s Woah Nellie recipe: “Rhubarb Nut Bread,” submitted by Linda Wittman. You can find it in the Breads, Rolls, Pies, and Pastries chapter, among some rather unfamiliar recipes, like “Limpa,” “Poppyseed Bochta,” and “Schnitz-Brod.”

“Rhubarb Nut Bread” is pretty straightforward. Being a technical writer in my past life, I would have handled the first instruction a bit better. “Mix until crumbly” doesn’t say a lot! But I figured out this instruction was referring to the topping ingredients, so let’s pretend it says, “Mix Topping ingredients until crumbly. Then set aside.”

After that, you simply mix all the other ingredients in the order given and pour the batter into greased and floured loaf pans. Ahhh—but what size loaf pans? This is an omission I see often in recipes for quick breads. Upon eyeballing the batter, I decided to go with two 8-1/2-by- 4-1/2-inch pans, and these were perfect. (The measurements indicate the opening at the top of the pan.) I also learned a long time ago to grease the loaf pans, then cut a piece of waxed paper to fit just the bottom of the pan. Grease that piece of waxed paper once it’s in place, and lightly flour the inside of the pan.

Lastly, I sprinkled the topping over the batter and baked “Rhubarb Nut Bread” in the preheated oven. I was surprised at the amount of time it took for these to bake. Because the recipe indicates, “Do not overbake,” at 45 minutes I started testing by poking a wooden skewer in the center of each loaf. After that I re-checked every five minutes. These loaves needed 65 minutes before I was confident they were baked through.

Observations after baking the loaves:

• The topping was not very attractive and was extremely crumbly. Much of it fell off the loaves when I cut them. I would recommend leaving the topping off completely.
• The rhubarb was not visible in the finished loaves. I may have diced the rhubarb too small. Next time I will chop the rhubarb a little chunkier and see what happens.
• Make sure to distribute the batter as evenly as possible between the two pans. Although both finished loaves were close in size, one loaf had about two slices in the middle where a little bit of batter remained raw after baking.

It is just my luck that my resident taste tester has given up eating processed sugar on weekdays. (Can you see me rolling my eyes?!) Never fear, the next day was a Mah Jongg day, and I was hosting. Of course, my Mahj group came through! Mind you, this group of women is used to nothing but the finest cuisine—peanut butter pretzels, trail mix, and sometimes even peanut M&Ms! But this time, they each tried a piece of “Rhubarb Nut Bread,” and the consensus was very positive. All agreed the bread did not need the topping. And one player pointed out that, much like zucchini bread, the rhubarb cooks down and is probably used to add moisture to the recipe.

Did I mention we have a “Mikey” in our Mahj group (as in the 1970s Life cereal commercial that featured Mikey the picky eater)? So, we all held our breaths as she tried a piece, and I’m happy to report, “She liked it!”