My first experiment with Rhubarb

A few months ago, I had no idea what Rhubarb is. I've never seen it and never even tasted it. At the very first market I went to in Macon, France, I came across a jar of jam that was labeled "Rhubarb", and I asked (in French) the vendor what rhubarb was. He tried to explain it, but at the very end, I still hadn't a clue what it was. When I came back to the States I started seeing it sold everywhere in the farmer's market. At first I didn't know what to expect out of this long-stemmed celery like items, so I didn't even think about buying it. Maybe it's the season for rhubarbs, I started seeing it getting mentioned everywhere, and my friend Rebecca started using it a lot. I had it in a pie that she made, and I also tried a compote that the restaurant I worked at made. It's kind of hard to describe the taste. I did some research on rhubarb, and apparently it is classified as a type of fruit in the United States, although it looks nothing like it. The leaves are toxic and the stems are too sour to eat on its own. Therefore, the most common way of preparing rhubarb is for desserts, a sugary compote, or jam.
I finally was brave enough to buy rhubarb the other day from the Lancaster market. I made a compote, that turned out to be delicious. I don't like things too sweet, so I went heavy on the lemon juice and less on the sugar, but experiment with the amount that you want!

Here's my recipe:
2 stems of rhubarb chopped into 1/2 inches
1/2 cup of red wine
juice of 1 whole lemon
1/4 cup of sugar

Put everything in a pot and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the rhubarbs starts to peel off, and you'll definitely know when that is, cause it caught me by surprise. After that's all thickened up, let it set until it cools.
I served it on top of ice cream, which turned out to be a great combination. The sourness from the compote complemented greatly with the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream. It's also good on top of yogurt, bread, or as a dessert filling.

Experiment with this wonderful "fruit" while it's in season!