Happens every year here in the Midwest — that week when the mercury peaks, the garden wilts and everyone droops and sweats. My motivation to harvest produce, much less cook it, fades as fast as an ice cube on the driveway.
Wait — save that ice cube. As a matter of fact, bring out all the ice trays. When temperature and humidity rise, there’s only one word that inspires us through: blender drinks. And look no further than the humble rhubarb for cocktail inspiration that frappes local flavor with a new twist on happy hour.
You have to admit, rhubarb could use a new recipe twist, something other than pie or cobbler. For the gardeners with prolific rhubarb patches, bet you could use a recipe that uses twelve cups of this vegetable that thinks its a fruit.
This cocktail recipe uses a rhubarb-sugar syrup as the base, blended with ice and rum. If you’re in more of a margarita mood, blend with tequila. For a non-alcoholic version, mix equal parts of the syrup with plain seltzer. The syrup readily freezes and is easiest (and most energy efficient on a hot day) made in the crock-pot.
Here’s the Rhubarb Cocktail recipe, using the sugar syrup:
Rhubarb Sugar Syrup
Ingredients:
12 c. chopped fresh rhubarb (frozen also works fine)
2 c. water
3 c. sugar
Directions:
* In a crock-pot or large saucepan, cook rhubarb and water over low heat for approximately two hours or until rhubarb is a soft pulp.
* Drain out pulp and place warm liquid in large bowl.
* Stir in sugar until completely dissolved.
Rhubarb Cocktail (individual serving)
Ingredients:
1/2 c. rhubarb sugar syrup
1/8 c. rum
1 c. ice
Directions:
* Blend sugar, run and ice until smooth. Serve cold. Very cold.
Other GO blogs to visit:
Think Pink
Top Top Three Patriotic Foods
Guilt-Free Beer Guzzling: Top Five Sustainable Suds
Photo Credit: La tartine gourmande at Flickr (under a Creative Commons license)
Lisa Kivirist
Lisa Kivirist embodies the growing “ecopreneuring” movement: innovative entrepreneurs who successfully blend business with making the world a better place. Lisa is co-author, with her husband, John Ivanko, of Rural Renaissance: Renewing the Quest for the Good Life, capturing the American dream of farm living for contemporary times. Her latest release, ECOpreneuring: Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits is a compact, dynamic tool kit for a fresh approach to entrepreneurial thinking, blending passion for protecting and preserving the planet with small business pragmatics. As a W.K. Kellogg Food & Society Policy Fellow and Director of the Rural Women's Project, Lisa champions a voice for women farmers and rural ecopreneurs through media, speaking and advocacy work. Lisa runs the award-winning Inn Serendipity Bed and Breakfast in southwest Wisconsin, completely powered by renewable energy and considered amongst the “Top Ten Eco-Destinations in North America.” Her culinary focus on local and seasonal cuisine – with most ingredients traveling less than 100 feet from her organic gardens to B&B plates – earned recognition in publications from Vegetarian Times to Country Woman and inspired her cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity. In addition to feature writing for publications such as Hobby Farm Home, Mother Earth News and Wisconsin Trails, Lisa is the lead writer for Renewing the Countryside, a non-profit organization showcasing rural entrepreneurial and agricultural success stories. Lisa also penned Kiss Off Corporate America: A Young Professional’s Guide to Independence. Lisa shares her farm with her husband, their young son, a 10kw wind turbine and a colony of honeybees.
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Yay for rhubarb! We tried this recipe from Lisa’s cookbook and love it.