When living in a country with four distinctive seasons, every year has some events that are like milestones for the season changes.. And no, I’m not talking about the ice hockey championships! While rest of Finland has been glued to the TV to watch will Finland bring home the gold medal this year like in 1995 and 2011, I’ve been gardening. My milestone from spring to beginning of summer is the first harvest of rhubarb.

This year summer seems to have started really yearly. It’s not even June and the lilacs are blooming.. Usually that is just before mid-Summer!

As my rhubarbs had survived the winter and started giving harvest, I decided to bake a pie. Rubarb is also great for kisel and compote.

Turned out I was a little bit overly positive regarding the amount of my rhubarb harvest (as I wanted to make a full baking tray) , but I added on some strawberries. Those unfortunately weren’t yet from my own garden, but hopefully by July I’ll have strawberries growing too. And if not, the markets will offer the sweet Finnish strawberries for sure.

Here’s the recipe if you want to try:

Rhubarb pie

1 litre of soured milk (‘piimä’)

5,5 dl of organic sugar

11 dl of flour (I used gluten free)

3 tea spoons of baking soda

2 – 3 dl of melted butter

3- 6 dl of rhubarb

Mix all ingredients in the above order, pour on a baking tray and add the rhubarb on top. And if you want, season with cinnamon and sugar. Bake in the oven in 175 degrees celsius for 40 – 60 minutes. The same recipe works with berries and apples etc.

Enjoy with vanilla ice-cream or vanilla custard!