Handcrafted Rhubarb Soda...


This is lovely.  I think that I could sip this on my wrap-around porch on sweltering summer days, chatting with my girlfriends in their hoop skirts and fanning myself deep in the South.  Wait, I don't live in the South!  I live in a high dessert and there are NO hoop skirts.  How did women wear those things in the humid South anyway?  Insanity if you ask me.

Since I am in a high desert with as little clothes as possible because it is really stinkin' HOT, and I don't have a wrap-around porch, I sip this lovely concoction on my patio over looking the garden while I chat with my chickens (who are also NOT wearing hoop skirts).

Really, I get off topic easily.  It's because it's so fun to type hoop skirt...


This is simply a very nice way to enjoy rhubarb, and it couldn't be easier.  Try it, you will like it, and it's kind of fun to make your own soda... think black and white Andy Griffith in the soda shop kind of fun.  My kids love it!  While you sip it this weekend, send me good energy.  I will be riding 100 miles on my bike in Lewiston, Utah at the Little Red Ride to support cancer research.  This is my third go at it, but I still need good vibes!  By about mile 80, things start to get a little painful, if you know what I mean... ouch!

Where is that ibuprofen anyway???

Happy sipping!


HANDCRAFTED RHUBARB SODA
backyard farmgals

4 cups rhubarb, roughly chopped
2 cups water
2 cups organic sugar *can reduce to 1 1/2 cups*
club soda
*optional - cream or half and half to make an Italian Soda

Method:
In a large heavy bottomed pan, add rhubarb, water, and sugar.  Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.  Simmer for 10 minutes, strain mixture through a fine sieve or a few layers of cheesecloth to separate syrup from solids.  Discard solids, or use it on ice cream if you like.  

To make a soda:
Fill glass with ice, add about an inch to 2-inches of syrup, fill the remaining glass with club soda.  

To make an Italian soda:
Fill glass with ice, add about an inch to 2-inches of syrup, fill the glass with club soda leaving a little room at the top.  Add about an inch of cream.  

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