Name: Rhubarb and Berry Crisp with Pecan Streusel
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: FRUIT; 6 cups strawberries (cut in half); 2 cups blueberries; 2 cups rhubarb (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces); 1 cup turbinado sugar; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; CRISP; ¾ cup brown sugar; ½ cup butter (melted); ⅛ teaspoon salt; 1 ½ cups flour; 1 cup pecans (coarsely chopped)

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ApRhubarb and Berry Crisp with Pecan Streusel is a perfect mixture of sweet and tart. Rhubarb combined with blueberries and strawberries makes a fantastic and easy dessert for any summertime meal.

I was so disappointed when I learned that rhubarb couldn’t grow in North Carolina. It requires a cold climate and it just can’t survive the southern summers. I have such fond memories of using rhubarb while cooking with my grandmother who lived in Idaho where it was plentiful in her backyard. So I was delighted to find some fresh at our farmers market.

Can you grow rhubarb in a warm climate

The stalls at our farmers market have to have food grown in North Carolina. I’m not sure I agree with this as we are only one hour or less from the Virginia border but they don’t allow produce except from North Carolina. In any event, I knew that this had to be from somewhere close by. I asked the local farmer and he said of course we can grow rhubarb here. However, when I went back the next week, he was out and said that was all he had this year. So it does grow here but just doesn’t have a very long growing season. In colder regions it has a growing season of April through June. I can find it at the grocery sometimes and it freezes great if you are like me and can’t find it fresh for very long. If you have a good supply we love to make Strawberry Rhubarb Jam and Rhubarb Upside Down Pound Cake.

How to make a rhubarb crisp

So with fresh local rhubarb in hand and lots of yummy strawberries, I made a crisp. I found some tasty blueberries and threw those in also. When using rhubarb you need to add other fruit to compliment the tart flavor. Strawberries seem to be the fruit of choice but I really like adding some blueberries to the mix. All you have to do is cut up the fruit, and add some sugar and something to thicken it a bit. Then add your favorite topping. It’s about the easiest type of dessert you can make. Taylor and I decided we would experiment with toppings. She used my favorite crisp topping with pecans for half of it and I used a more traditional oatmeal topping for the remaining crisp.

The pecan topping won hands down. I think it’s because the strawberries make this very juicy and the pecan topping was more solid and helped absorb the juice. We loved the fruit mixture regardless of the topping. I have included the recipe for the pecan topping here. It is my go-to topping for fruit crisps as it’s substantial but not doughy.

Here are some other crisps or cobbler you might also like: