Despite all of the differing viewpoints on diet these days, one thing that many of us tend to agree on is that eating seasonally and locally is a good thing. Oh yeah, and we should all eat more vegetables.
Enter rhubarb. With its tart, bitter stalks, it’s a classic Canadian springtime fave. And while it may be most famous for its delicious contributions to pie, its magenta stalks actually have a lot more to offer.
Macerate this vegetable (yes, vegetable) with a little vinegar and sugar (it’s called happy hour for a reason) and you’ve got yourself a shrub. In our version, its rhubarb-y essence gets concentrated into a tart syrup that will keep in your fridge far longer than the fresh stalks, making springtime—and your efforts to eat locally—last a little longer too.
And did we mention that rhubarb boasts more Vitamin C than spinach? Getting more vegetables into your diet has never been so fun.
It may look like quite a few steps, but fear not, the following steps are simple and require very little time.
Rhubarb Ginger Shrub Cocktail
1 oz rhubarb shrub *see below
½ – ¾ oz ginger-infused gin *see below
1 oz simpler syrup *see below
8 oz (1 cup) soda water
Thin stalk of rhubarb for garnish, optional
Put several ice cubes into a tumbler. Pour in the cold-pressed rhubarb shrub, the ginger-infused gin (start with 1/2 oz), the simpler syrup, and the soda water. Stir to combine. Garnish with a thin rhubarb stalk, optional. Sip and enjoy!
Craving a little more oomph? Throw in that extra ¼ shot of gin.
Cold-Pressed Rhubarb Shrub
1 cup rhubarb, sliced into ½-inch pieces
1 cup organic sugar
1 cup red-wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar
Mix the fruit with the sugar. Stir to combine, cover, and place in the fridge overnight or until the juice is released. This could take a day or two. You will be left with a syrupy, pink liquid.
Pour -the mixture through a fine mess strainer and into a bowl, pressing on the fruit to release the remaining juices. Add the vinegar and stir to combine. You’re done! Store in a tightly-sealed mason jar in the fridge.
Ginger-Infused Gin
2-inch piece of ginger, thinly sliced
2 ounces of gin
Place the ginger and gin in a mason jar and muddle the ginger with a muddler or back end of a wooden spoon. You want to gently break up the ginger to release its juices. Set aside on the counter for a minimum of 15 minutes, or up to a week to infuse. This recipe can easily be multiplied.
Simpler Syrup
1 cup water
¾ cup organic sugar
Combine sugar and water together in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool, then store in the fridge.
