Rhubarb Lemonade
Every time I make a rhubarb pie or cake, I also make a rhubarb lemonade. I don’t like wasting food so I try as much as possible to use everything that’s available. The peel and ends of rhubarb can be used as the main ingredients for a refreshing lemonade. You can add water enough to cover it, boil it for a few minutes with some sugar and spices like cinnamon, anise, ginger, lemon peel, and lemon juice. After cooling it down you will get a nice fresh rhubarb lemonade.
Ingredients:
- peel and leftover ends from 1 kg rhubarb (the amount for baking 1 oven tray or 2 spring tins of rhubarb pie or cake)
- 1 l water (enough to cover the peel)
- 100 g sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder (fresh ginger also works)
- 1 anise star
- peel and juice of a lemon (about 4 tbsp of lemon juice)
- Cut the peel of a lemon into small pieces with a paring knife.
- Squeeze the lemon. The reason for cutting the lemon peel separately and then adding the juice to the mixture is because I don’t want the white part of the lemon which is usually bitter in the drink.
- In a pot, add all the ingredients in a pot: the rhubarb peel and all the leftover small pieces, water, spices, lemon juice and peel, and sugar, and bring it to a boil.
- Boil the mixture for about 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb is very soft.
- Let it cool down a little bit.
- Strain the juice and use a spoon to press the boiled rhubarb and get some of the pulp in the juice. You can skip the last part if you don’t like it.
- Cool it down in the fridge.
- Serve it cold as it is, ice cubes, with lemon juice, or mixed with a little bit of still or sparkling water.
Feel free to adjust the quantities so the rhubarb lemonade fits your taste. You can add more sugar, lemon, spices, or try out other combinations. I love the refreshing taste and the color of this rhubarb lemonade.
You can find more rhubarb recipes here.