When we went to Chiswick House last week, we bought some rhubarb from the kitchen garden.

Rhubarb isn’t pretty once you’ve cooked it but it is tasty, the perfect balance of tart and sweet. I didn’t take up Ma’s suggestion of dipping the raw rhubarb in sugar and eating it like that.  Instead I baked it with sugar and a vanilla pod. (750g rhubarb, 225g sugar, 1 vanilla pod split – cover with foil and bake for 30-ish minutes at about 175C)

Once cooled, I strained away the lovely pink syrup to use for drinks on Friday night (you can make rhubarb syrup in a saucepan too but this syrup is sweeter and more rhubarby and pink) and I’ve been eating the rhubarb with greek yogurt for breakfast. I also have plans to use it instead of the strawberries in this cake too.