It’s late for a rhubarb post but I figure it’s better late than ever.
I was also surprised to find out from one of my local friendly farmers that they grow into early August. It tends to disappear from the market as people move onto other things theat they get more excited about. This is amazing to me – the possibility of rhubarb-peach preserve is making my head swim!
The Mighty Tigress wrote about Rhubeena (Rhubarb drink) which was followed by Kaela of Local Kitchen writing about rhubarbaritas and my fate was sealed like a jar of this concentrate.
What is rhubeena? It’s essentially the liquid of stewed rhubarb that is sweetened with some sugar. It can be water-bath preserved as-is and is later mixed with 2-4 parts water (or water and other liquid such as vodka) to make a wonderful beverage that can be consumed year-round.
The jar at the bottom wasn’t preserved (there is far too much head space here) – it was used almost as quickly as it made the bottle.
Tigress has full details on how to make it here (same link as above). I make the following modification (when I have room in my fridge, otherwise I follow her sage advice exactly):
- I place the sugar in a non-reactive bowl with the rhubarb and coat each piece of rhubarb liberally with the sugar. I leave it in the fridge overnight to allow the sugar to pull the natural juices out. I cook the rhubarb down (as she does) without the juice and add the juice at the last stage of stewing the rhubarb – once it’s back to a boil, I remove it and process from there.
It oddly reminds me of the pink lemonade that I so dearly loved as a child.