| Rhubarb juice is an old-fashioned drink that is out of | | | | juice to taste. Store the juice in jars in the refrigerator |
| favor mainly because few of us have the garden | | | | until ready to serve. |
| space to grow rhubarb, but if you happen to have an | | | | To make an ice tea concentrate, brew strong tea |
| abundant supply, this is a beverage worth considering. | | | | using about six tea bags. Do not increase the steeping |
| In past times, every home had a large garden with a | | | | time as this may result in a bitter tea. Add sugar and |
| rhubarb patch. Rhubarb is a perennial and will grow for | | | | lemon juice to taste. Cool until ready to serve. Prepare |
| years if undisturbed. It is best harvested in the spring, | | | | a sugar syrup of a cup of sugar to a cup of boiling |
| but from established gardens, it can be harvested | | | | water. Stir until dissolved, then cool. |
| twice, once in the spring, and again in midsummer. To | | | | To make rhubarb ice tea, add a cup of rhubarb juice |
| harvest the stalks, pull them from the plant. Cut off the | | | | to a pitcher with half a cup of tea concentrate, then fill |
| leaves and trim the base of the stem. Use the | | | | with cold water and stir. Taste for sweetness and add |
| discarded leaves as a mulch to control weeds by | | | | sugar syrup if necessary. |
| leaving them near the plant. Rhubarb patches should | | | | Both tea concentrate and rhubarb juice can be frozen |
| be fertilized with manure or compost each fall. | | | | in ice cubes, or in small round freezer containers that fit |
| Rhubarb is ornamental and can be grown in a flower | | | | into the serving jug when unmolded. For variety, |
| bed or by a fence line. Sometimes it is planted near | | | | rhubarb juice can be blended with apple, raspberry, |
| the house to encourage early growth in the spring. | | | | pineapple or other juices. |
| Late in the season rhubarb becomes tough and | | | | This summer I attended a get-together with old-timers |
| woody and should not be used; the usual test is to | | | | and rhubarb ice tea was served as an authentic |
| bend the stalk and if it snaps, it is still usable. | | | | old-fashioned beverage. Many people had never |
| Rhubarb juice has traditionally been served at | | | | tasted rhubarb juice and were surprised at how |
| weddings and social events. In pioneer times, lemons | | | | delicious this tart fruity drink is. In pioneer times, the |
| were expensive but rhubarb was easily prepared. It is | | | | women of the area used to make a home brew |
| a tart drink with a pale pink color, even if green rhubarb | | | | called "Matilda" from lemons, oranges and raisins. The |
| is used. Usually red rhubarb is sweeter than the green | | | | rhubarb ice tea at the event was called "non-alcoholic |
| varieties. | | | | Matilda" which went with the pioneer theme and |
| To make rhubarb juice, harvest and chop the stalks | | | | provided a touch of nostalgia. |
| (do not peel). Cover the rhubarb with water and | | | | Rhubarb ice tea is a refreshing summer drink. If you |
| simmer in a large pot, cool and strain through a | | | | have a patch of rhubarb, try this old-fashioned |
| colander, discarding the pulp. Add sugar and lemon | | | | beverage for an unusual tart drink. |