Wandering Summer Days and Rhubarb Tea

This could possibly be a perfect summer day.  At least it was a typical summer day in this house.

Spent the morning with my sweet 8-year-old.  Took him to swimming lessons,  then the grocery store and a bit of time at the library before we headed home.  In the meantime my husband took the two teens with him to get supplies for the deck they are building on our house.  (Yeah!  They are building a deck!)

After lunch I decided to wander around and see how the garden is doing.  Found that the pickling cucumber vines are producing and we’d better get them picked!  Pulled off the biggest and made a mental note to get the rest picked tomorrow.  Noticed  a bunch of green tomatoes showing up.  Can’t wait for them to turn red!   Lots of blossoms on the green beans.  The rest of the kohlrabi also needs to be picked, and the eggplants are looking pretty pathetic.

Something had to be done with my huge rhubarb plant.  I still have rhubarb in our freezer from last year.  I’d pretty much decided not to do much with the plant this year.  However when I looked today, it  is so bushy and full, I couldn’t help myself.  I pulled off a bunch of stalks and set my 8-year-old to work cutting off the leaves.

Decided to make Rhubarb Butter to serve as topping for pancakes or waffles.  I think it’ll make a great ice cream topping too.   And to drink, how about Rhubarb Tea?   Sweet, pink and refreshing…

Rhubarb Butter
Chop 4 cups Rhubarb and combine with 4 T lemon juice, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 ½ cups water.  Heat this in a sauce pan.  Simmer until all the rhubarb is well cooked.  Mash the rhubarb.

Stir 1 T cornstarch with a  small about of water and then add to the rhubarb mixture.  Simmer, stirring often until it starts to thicken.  Remove from the heat and let cool.   Enjoy on pancakes, ice cream or as a spread on toast.

Rhubarb Iced Tea
Yum!  Super easy to make too.  Bring equal parts chopped rhubarb and water to a boil.  I’ve seen it suggested to add a cinnamon stick , but we are not big fans of cinnamon so I skipped it.  You might want it.

Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for an hour.  Strain the pulp off and save for another purpose.  Sweeten the juices to your taste.   Add the sweetener while the juice is still hot. It dissolves quickly and easily.   Chill and enjoy.

I used 8 cups chopped rhubarb, 8 cups water, sweetened with ½ cup honey.  In my opinion it was good, but I’m guessing my boys will want it sweeter.

I ended up with 1 gallon of tea and about 4 cups of pulp.  Use the pulp for some rhubarb bread, muffins or maybe rhubarb pancakes in the morning.  Top with your rhubarb butter.

I still have a bunch of rhubarb stalks in my fridge to deal with tomorrow.  I’m guessing more tea might be in order.  Sweet tea on a hot summer day… doesn’t get any better than that.