When Life Gives You Rhubarb

 

I’ve always loved rhubarb.  I grew up with rhubarb custard pie my mother made. When I moved into her home to take care of her and dad, a big patch of it grew out back.  I loved picking it in the spring. There’s a trick to picking rhubarb – you don’t cut it.  You hold each stalk firmly near the base and pull straight up. This way, you get a nice clean stalk and leave no weeping root behind for the bugs to crawl inside of.

I enjoyed making the rhubarb custard pies and later even learned to make a strawberry/rhubarb jam with pecans at the request of my sister-in-law. And even when I moved to my new home that doesn’t have a rhubarb patch, there was always somebody  every spring giving the stuff away.

Just this past week, I received rhubarb from two separate sources. I had to take it.  A patch of rhubarb grows like weeds, which almost guarantees that it is organic, since nobody with rhubarb in their back yard needs to spray it with pesticide to protect it or add fertilizer to help it grow.  It grows! So when a fellow knitter brought in a huge bag of rhubarb to our Tuesday night knitting group and set it on the table for people to take  home, I had to take some.  And when my daughter sent me home with more, I had to take that too.

But rhubarb can’t be eaten raw and without a sweetener.  At least not by me.  And now that I’ve started this healing path, I can’t make the custard pie I still love, with it’s egg yolks and flour and meringue topping.  Mmmm.  OK, maybe I could make a regular rhubarb pie without the egg yolks and raw honey and a gluten free pie crust, but that’s an experiment for another day.

When I mentioned the abundant rhubarb to a friend, she suggested rhubarb-lemonade.  I’d never made rhubarb lemonade and went on-line to look at recipes.  I found one.  I adapted it somewhat.  Here is my version of an “on the diet plan so Anthony William would approve” rhubarb lemonade.

Maybe if you have a rhubarb patch or know someone who does, you can make this too?

Rhubarb-Lemonade:

6 cups chopped rhubarb

4 cups water

Lemon zest (I used all of one half of a large lemon for this)

I brought this mixture to a boil, turned the heat to low and let cook for 10 to fifteen minutes – until all of the rhubarb was cooked well.  I removed this from the heat and let cool for about an hour.

I strained the rhubarb into a bowl, pressing the mixture with a large spoon down against the wire mesh gently as I tried to push as much of the liquid out of the rhubarb “mash” as possible.  This took a little time and patience.

Into a mixing bowl I added:

The juice of 5 large lemons

4 cups of the strained rhubarb mixture

1 cup raw honey

Note: The remaining rhubarb liquid I poured into ice cube trays.  After it freezes, I shall put the cubes into a plastic bag and save for a later glass of lemonade that I want to enhance a bit.

Stir the mixture until the honey is absorbed.  I poured this into a pitcher, and set in the refrigerator. Once chilled, I shall add sliced strawberries for an extra bit of color and flavor.  Can’t wait!

The lemons and strawberries were not organic. I buy organic as much as I can, but some things, like strawberries, are either too expensive or difficult to find organic.  But Anthony has provided a solution to this dilemma.  He recommends praying (sub-vocally, of course) to the Angel of Disarmament to help nullify the danger of any pesticides or other toxins and to encourage only the good attributes of the fruit to be taken up by the body.

Needless to say, I’ve been praying under my breath to the Angel of Disarmament quite a bit lately. The hardest part was remembering her name!  But I’ve got it down in my memory now – at least down to only one or two stumbles – Angel of War, no, Angel of Disbursement no, oh, Angel of Disarmament,that’s it!  It just takes a bit.

So this recipe might require you to taste and adapt to your own tastebuds.  Remember, my lemons were like small oranges. Yours might be quite a bit smaller.

Also, if anybody tries this with maple syrup instead of honey, let me know!  I’m curious about that taste combination.

Enjoy!