I diluted the juice about 50/50 with water, and added 1 teaspoon of sugar. It has enough pucker power to wrinkle my nose, but isn't sour at all to drink. I think it'll make a lovely base for a blueberry or raspberry fruit punch.
I froze the pulp for rhubarb bread this winter. Usually I freeze rhubarb in chunks, and then when I defrost it the juice leaks out. It makes a watery bread, and I cut back on oil and butter. So I figure, having taken the juice out now, the pulp should still make a nice bread.
I'm sure the boys will make short work of this batch, but I'm wondering about freezing or canning a concentrate. To wean us off of pop (we drink a glass per day each now, at supper time), I would need a gallon of juice per day. From June to August I should be able to come up with something fresh, so I would need about 270 gallons of juice. I can get away with iced tea about every third day for the boys. I hate it myself- tea should be hot! lol. But that's still 180 gallons of juice to preserve.
As Ohio Farm Girl pointed out- I don't know how pop made it to the dinner table. It sure wasn't like that when I was a kid. We always had juice for supper. We started out with juice on our dinner table. It was somewhere along the time that #1 was a toddler that I started buying less and less juice. And then buying crappier and crappier juice. Keeping his thirst quenched was costing us a fortune. And then at some point I realized that pop was cheaper, and just as crappy.
We drink water. Lots of water. We could survive on water. Husband drinks coffee in the morning. I drink tea. The boys, all of them, even the Littles, drink whatever's in the pot. No, that's not true. #2 is not allowed coffee. Makes him yap about a million miles a minute and drives us all crazy. Strange child. Maybe it is an emotional thing, but I want something sweet with supper. I would happily serve wine, but that's not in the budget any more than good juice. At least not for the moment. I do have a wine making kit on my future gift wish list. Someday.
Is it doable? Not with just rhubarb, not at the moment. It's not growing quite that fast. But I could probably do rhubarb every third day for the growing season. But kymber has me thinking again (she's a bad influence! lol). Clover lemonade? Sumac lemonade? What else of nature's bounty have I been neglecting?
Off to scour the net for juices, teas and lemonades available in my back yard.
Wendy - you can pretty much make lemonade out of anything that's edible. we make "lemonade" out of sage tea, lemon balm tea, marjoram, dandelion, clover - you name it! just make a simple syrup and add whatever to it. i let the jug sit outside all day in the sun and then bring it in, in the afternoon. then i stick it in the freezer overnight and take it out in the morning. then we have juice with our dinner and supper, all throughout the afternoon and eve. on hot days - those "lemonades" are to die for! and full of wonderful nutrients.
ReplyDeleteplay around with whatever is growing. i am going to try some pea tendril lemonade soon!
your friend,
kymber
Awesome. I am going to have to experiment as things get growing!
DeleteRhubarb lemonade sounds delicious. I have a bit of rhubarb that I am going to try for juice.
ReplyDeleteI really don't "get" the juice or Coke for dinner. (Okay, I am strange) I cannot stand Coke with vegetables or dinner meals. My kids had little juice at all. They would have drunk it to the exclusion of milk or any fruit or vegetable. So, 1/2 cup oj in the morning was it! A bit of apple juice in the afternoon was a huge treat. I was mean.
At dinner they got unsweetened, iced tea and love it still. I only like the same with meals or water. They got no milk with dinner because they would drink their milk and suddenly not be hungry for dinner! Ack. kids! They could have milk after dinner.
I could not have afforded to satisfy their juice cravings.
Have you ever thought about diluting the juice, stretching it. If you dilute it little by little, they will probably never notice.
Off to use the blender on my rhubarb! I don't know if I can wait until tomorrow to drink it!
Glad the Rhubarb juice is working well for you!
ReplyDelete