Tag: rhubarb

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Bittersweet in Leola

By Katie Hunhoff

Bonnie Gill with her rhubarb cookbook.

Bonita”Bonnie” Gill loved rhubarb. She helped spearhead Leola’s first Rhubarb Festival in 1972. She compiled a cookbook, wrote a poem about the town’s favorite vegetable, and was even crowned the town’s Rhubarb Queen.

Gill died at age 96 in January of 2023. Just as she would want, the town’s festival continues, though for many it’s as bittersweet as a stalk of unsugared rhubarb.

Merilee Beck, one of Gill’s seven children, remembers her mom working on the first rhubarb cookbook in the 1970s. A few years ago, she and her sisters decided to redo the local bestseller.”We gathered even more recipes from our kitchens and from others and published a new version. And since it’s our mom, we decided to name the cookbook after her.”

Beck says they come from a long line of bakers.”Mom grew up in a bakery and had a natural start, as did her six siblings. Her dad was a lifelong baker, owning several bakeries during his lifetime. His parents, originally from Sweden, were bakers as well.”

In 1942, Gill’s dad moved to Leola to start a bakery, which was eventually taken over by Gill’s brother, Tubby, and his wife, Agnes.”They made bread, buns and rolls — and kuchen was a specialty,” Beck says. Kuchen, a German fruit pastry pie, is now South Dakota’s state dessert.

Swanson Bakery was a mainstay for decades in the little McPherson County town of 440.”People passing through Leola would make a point of stopping,” Beck remembers.

Richard Jasmer, one of the 2023 festival organizers, says Bonnie Gill was a dedicated promoter of”the pie plant,” her nickname for rhubarb.”She will be missed because she was one of the originals. She helped get the festival started and was such a sweet lady. She did so much for our community and so much to promote the use of rhubarb, especially through her cookbook.”

Jasmer says volunteers work throughout the winter and spring to get ready for the biennial event.”Planning for the festival really brings people together. And it gives us a fun activity to do while we go through the winter blahs.”

Gill’s daughters (from left) Merrilee Beck, Kimberlee Geary and Lorrilee Gill at a recent Rhubarb Festival.

Activities include a poker run, bake sale, turtle races, craft show, bean bag competition, street dance, fireworks, kiddie train rides, face painting, watermelon feed, pig scramble and street picnic. Another good-natured highlight is the battle for biggest rhubarb leaf and longest stalk.”We have quite a few entries,” Jasmer says.”It is like a reality show. People are measuring each entry. It’s always close and there are always disappointed competitors.”

Rhubarb royalty is determined every year by a dessert contest. Entries are judged by a panel.”The tastiest entries win. There’s a waiting list for people who want to be judges. Any age can enter. One year the king was a boy of just 10 or 12,” Jasmer recalls.

Though Bonnie Gill will be missed, her children emphasize that she would want everyone to celebrate with the same sense of fellowship and fun that Leola residents and guests have to come expect at the festival. In fact, she expressed that very sentiment in a poem she once wrote about rhubarb:

The lowly pie plant has come a long way

And finally been honored with a special day

So when life goes sour add a little sweet,

and you, too, will be like a rhubarb treat.

Mom’s Easy Layered Rhubarb Cheesecake

2 pounds rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

2 cups white cake mix

1 egg white (reserve yolk for filling)

1/4 cup unsweetened rhubarb juice

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened rhubarb juice

2 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese

2 eggs, separated plus reserved yolk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. Place 2 pounds of rhubarb into the saucepan and add water to almost cover the rhubarb. Bring to a boil and continue cooking until rhubarb is mushy. Pour rhubarb through a sieve, but don’t force it; you want clear rhubarb juice. Combine cake mix, egg white and 1/4 cup of rhubarb juice. Beat batter as directed on the cake mix box. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 12-15 minutes. While baking, mix together sugar, 2 tablespoons of rhubarb juice, cream cheese and 3 egg yolks. Beat 2 egg whites until stiff and fold into the cheese mixture. Remove cake from oven and spoon filling over baked base. Return to the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes. Cool before serving. Spoon your favorite rhubarb sauce over each serving.

Editor’s Note: The 2025 Rhubarb Festival will be June 27-29. This story is revised from the May/June 2023 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

Chopped stalks of rhubarb in a bowl close-up
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In the Moment

By Fran Hill

The cicadas were singing last night. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, that means just six weeks until the first frost. I am not ready for that.

Here in South Dakota, it is a favorite pastime to complain about the weather. It is too dry, too wet, too cold, too hot, too humid, too windy, too sunny, too cloudy. The seasons are wished away by dreaming of heated summer days in the bitter below zeros of winter and begging for cool relief beneath the merciless August sun.

I try to buck this trend. I try to live in the moment and make the most of each and every glorious season. My only complaint is that none last long enough. I am simply not ready for cicadas to be singing while I roast my marshmallows over backyard fires.

I am going to hang on to summer as long as it allows. I’ll willingly spend days dripping with sweat as I weed the garden, and then savor the harvests of my work. I will wiggle my toes in the sandy banks of the Missouri River and take in every rainbow sunset I can. I will refresh with drinks on patios and picnics on tailgates in alfalfa fields. I will eat tomatoes and zucchini as quickly as the gardens can produce them, and snap fresh green beans with abandon. I will churn homemade ice cream and let the juices of fresh fruits and berries drip from my fingers.

Before that first frost, I am going to eat all the rhubarb I can handle. Right now, Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble is a weekly occurrence. I feel like I get bonus points for the strawberries also being from my garden. This basic recipe is so simple that I almost have it memorized. Fruit is macerated with sugar and lemon, and the simple crumble employs melted butter — I don’t even have to remember to bring it to room temperature earlier in the day. The hardest part is waiting the 40 minutes for it to bake, but I plan to spend that time enjoying my summer because, you know, the cicadas are already singing.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble is a good reminder to hold on to summer.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 cups of rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 cups of strawberries, halved, quartered, or not (the ones from my garden are tiny and I only hull them)

juice of a lemon

1/2 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons corn starch

1 cup of flour

1/3 cup old fashioned oats

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons honey

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and set aside to macerate while prepping the crumble.

Combine the next 4 dry ingredients with a mixer (or by hand, if you want a little arm workout). Add the honey and melted butter. Mix until ingredients pull together and form coarse crumble.

Pour the fruit into an ungreased 8- or 9-inch baking dish, pie plate or cast iron skillet. Crumble the topping over the fruit. Place the filled baking dish on a rimmed cookie sheet that has been lined with foil (to catch drips in the oven and save cleaning later) and bake for 40-50 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the crumble is browned.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream for the best summer ever. (Serves 6-8)

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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A Sweet Treat for Mom

By Fran Hill

I have a sweet tooth. Doughnuts, pie, cake, and chocolate bars tempt me. When dining out, I always take a peek at the dessert menu. Yet, dessert is not a regular feature of our daily meals.

In our home, a sweet finish to the meal is usually reserved for celebrating guests or special occasions. I bake towering layer cakes for birthdays, churn homemade ice cream for casual dinners, and char sugar over cr’me br˚lÈe for a holiday meal. However, on a daily basis, such indulgences are only dreams.

Thankfully, there is a holiday approaching. I can’t think of a day that deserves dessert more than Mother’s Day. This year, simple is best. I am combining sweet, end-of-the-season apples with fresh, new season rhubarb in a bracingly tart dessert with a nutty oat crust. Rhubarb Apple Crisp is indulgent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, yet has a wholesomeness that totally suits a Mother’s Day dessert, or any day.

Rhubarb Apple Crisp is a sweet, yet tart, finish to your Mother’s Day meal.

Rhubarb Apple Crisp

(adapted from Cooking Light)

5 cups rhubarb, chopped

3-4 Honeycrisp or Gala apples, peeled, cored and diced

2/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons flour, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375F.

Toss rhubarb and apples with sugar, flour, vanilla and cinnamon. Place in 6-cup baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray.

In a separate bowl, combine remaining 4 tablespoons flour, oats and brown sugar; mix well. Add butter and knead into the oat mixture. Crisp topping is properly mixed if it clumps between your fingers. Sprinkle evenly over rhubarb mixture in baking dish.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until topping is golden brown and filling is thick and bubbly. Cool 15 minutes before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.

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Brookings’ Rhubarb King

By Katie Hunhoff

Jan Sanderson has been raising rhubarb in his gardens outside of Aurora for over 35 years.

“Everyone who has a rhubarb plant has a story about it,” says Jan Sanderson, the Rhubarb King of Brookings County. He runs Sanderson Gardens, a fruit and vegetable oasis bordered by corn and soybean fields.

Sanderson is always searching for new rhubarb to transplant, and he takes a notebook with him to record the histories of each plant.”If you could follow their history far back enough,” Sanderson says,”you would find all of our rhubarb came from England or the Nordic countries.”

The English used the vegetable as a food about 200 years ago, calling it pie plant. But for thousands of years before that, Chinese would grind rhubarb root as medicine, most commonly as a laxative, diuretic, astringent and detoxifier. The name rhubarb comes from the ancient Romans who knew that the plant was used by barbarians near the Rha River. The word is a combination of the words rha (an ancient name for the Volga River in Russia) and the Greek word barbarus meaning barbarians.

Rhubarb is enjoying a renaissance, Sanderson says. He can hardly keep up with demand, especially from local wineries. Rhubarb’s tart flavor and rich coloring make it a popular ingredient. Sanderson’s rhubarb has both, thanks to years of hunting for the best varieties.

“Genetics are the secret to great rhubarb,” he says. He likes plants with pretty color and few seed stalks. He clones his favorites by digging up the crown, the part of the rhubarb that is above the roots but below the ground. The crown contains the meristem, which is like the plant’s stem cell system. He cuts the crown into several chunks and replants them. The new rhubarb will be an identical copy of the parent plant.

It seems nearly every yard has a patch of rhubarb, and all of it can be traced to England or the Nordic countries in Europe.

Sanderson began his rhubarb crop over 30 years ago with two rows of Valentine and Canada Red varieties from his parents’ garden. He advertised in local papers that he would remove or trim plants for people, and he would search for plants he liked. Through the years he’s developed a variety he calls Sanderson Red. At one time he had eight acres devoted to the tart vegetable.

Rhubarb is a strong plant, says Sanderson. Once it takes root, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. A deep root system helped plants survive the Great Depression, and the toxic leaves protect against chewing insects. Sanderson has even made an organic insecticide from the leaves.

Sanderson started growing produce in 1977 on his parents’ farm 4 miles east of Brookings along Highway 14. The season kicks off each spring with the sprouting of rhubarb and strawberries. Next come sweet corn, raspberries and pumpkins. Barbarians are few and far between in Brookings County, but there are lots of people there who appreciate the summer bounty of Sanderson Gardens.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the May/June 2012 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call (800) 456-5117.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

When Sanderson was a boy growing up near Sisseton, he and his seven siblings would eat rhubarb stalks raw, dipped in sugar. Although the raw rhubarb was a treat, Sanderson’s all-time favorite recipe is from his ex-wife, Liz. He recommends eating it hot with vanilla ice cream.

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, (Liz uses whole wheat) 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and dash salt. Add 3 beaten eggs; beat smooth. Stir in 4 cups 1-inch slices rhubarb.

Prepare pastry for 9-inch lattice-top pie. Line 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with rhubarb mixture. Adjust lattice top; seal. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes.

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Confessions of a Lilac Thief

By Laura Andrews

In the spring, this woman’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of thieving. If the cops ever catch me in the act, my only defenses will be the season…and the irresistible aroma. I am enthralled by lilacs — a slave to those sweet, short-lived purple blossoms. Even though I know it’s wrong, I cannot resist plucking them from bushes in Yankton alleys or on abandoned homesteads.

It’s an urge I don’t quite understand. I wouldn’t dream of stepping into someone’s yard and clipping peonies or tulips. What makes lilacs different? It seems as though they belong to everyone — or is that just a convenient justification for my crimes?

Perhaps it’s the lilacs’ ubiquitousness. I’d be hard-pressed to name a farm in my old neighborhood that didn’t have a ring or a row of them — perfect for playing around or under — and there doesn’t appear to be a lilac-less block in all of Yankton. Even if my husband, Mike, and I owned a lilac bush, I’m not sure I could resist the lilacs of others. When in full flower, they seem to reach out to me, luring me in with their distinctive scent.

I’d like to be able to pin my desire on a culinary pursuit. Did you know lilacs are edible? You can candy the flowers by painting them with egg white and dipping them in sugar or make jelly from the blossoms. I haven’t tried either one yet — mostly because spring is also rhubarb season.

Though rhubarb patches are every bit as common as lilac bushes, they’re not as tempting to my light fingers. Even though Mike and I have been eyeing the neighbors’ rhubarb on our walks and have a rhubarb-stealing name for ourselves (the Night Stalkers, naturally), we haven’t given in to the urge.

Luckily, Roger Holtzmann invited me to avail myself of the rhubarb out at his place. It must’ve been raised with care — my bucket filled up quickly with thick green and red stalks. With these spoils I made a deliciously messy pie and a batch of my favorite jelly. Nothing beats thickened, well-sugared rhubarb juice unadulterated with strawberries, herbs or other foolishness. Its delicate pink sweetness shines on slices of homemade bread.

Rhubarb Jelly

Wash rhubarb, and cut into chunks. Add to large pot, cover with water, and simmer 10-15, until soft. Pour the fruity mush into a large bowl lined with three layers of damp cheesecloth or a jelly bag. Tie the cloth closed, then hang it above the bowl and let the juice drip into the bowl. When the dripping stops, press gently, then discard the rhubarb fiber or save it for other purposes. (Mike makes muffins with it.) Measure the rhubarb juice and proceed with jellymaking.

5 cups rhubarb juice
1 box fruit pectin
7 cups sugar

Pour rhubarb juice into a large pot. Stir in pectin and bring to a rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Quickly stir in the sugar, return to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, ladle into prepared jars and can using the hot water bath method. Makes 8-10 half-pint jars.

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Antique Versus Vintage

By Fran Hill

The Antiques Roadshow will be in Rapid City this weekend taping for their 2013 PBS season. My husband is a HUGE fan and seldom misses a Sunday viewing of this show. Several friends have tickets to visit the appraisers for the event and have the mysteries of their valuables unlocked and assessed. I was feeling quite jealous of their chance to rub elbows with the Keno twins, but lucky for me, an opportunity to volunteer with the program opened up.

I am required to attend a training session, wear sensible shoes, work a long day of what will most likely be directing guests to the nearest restroom, and can bring something of my own for appraisal. If you know me, you are probably concerned about the sensible shoe requirement. My usual strappy wedge sandals and pointy-toed boots don’t really fall into a judicious category. Never fear. I do have shoes that can stand up to 12 hours on a concrete floor.

What troubles me is the appraisal. My home is filled with many thrift store and antique shop finds along with a few sentimental, inherited pieces. However, my treasures are more what you would call”vintage” rather than”antique.” Sell everything I own in one big lot, and you wouldn’t have enough cash to purchase a reproduction Tiffany lamp, let alone an original. I basically own a collection of carefully collected junk. Cue my panic.

Fortunately, as a volunteer, my willingness to do the bidding of the PBS crew is more important than lugging an antique oil painting through the doors of the venue. I don’t *have to* bring an item for appraisal. I just have to work. I can do that, and my hoard can remain blissfully vintage.

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake seems blissfully vintage to me, as well. The reliance on the convenience of cake mix and jello harkens to the 1950s instead of the 1850s. Passed from neighbor to neighbor over coffee, and included in every church cookbook, this recipe is a treasure that doesn’t need to be appraised, just enjoyed.

Strawberry Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

4 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
6 teaspoons Minute Tapioca (instant)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 3-ounce package strawberry Jell-O gelatin
1 18-ounce white cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 1/3 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13 pan. Combine rhubarb, tapioca, sugar, and dry Jell-o together in a bowl. Pour into the bottom of the prepared pan. Combine remaining ingredients for cake as instructed on package. Pour cake batter over rhubarb mixture in pan. Bake for 1 hour. Serve with whipped cream. Serves 12.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and two dogs reside near Colome.



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Celebrating with Rhubarb

By Laura Johnson

Today is May 17, and as usual, I am completely offended. On March 17, everyone pretends to be Irish. For Cinco de Mayo, folks don sombreros and down margaritas. But when Norway’s national holiday, Syttende Mai, rolls around on May 17…nothing. No dinner deals, no special drinks, no wild debauchery. What gives? Where’s the Scandinavian love?

It lives in places like Vivian, with its annual Syttende Mai parade and rare springtime lutefisk supper, and at Nordland Fest in Sioux Falls. But that’s not enough. I will not rest until bars across the state offer Syttende Mai drink specials.

There’s just one problem. I have yet to come up with a suitable Norwegian cocktail to capture the public’s attention. Should it contain cream? Probably. Or how about equal parts aquavit and lutefisk cooking water with a butter ball garnish? Hmm… Maybe rhubarb margaritas?

Scandinavians do have an affinity for rhubarb, you know. Its fresh and springy taste goes well with sugar and cream. So until I can come up with a good Syttende Mai drink, let’s celebrate with something safe — a simple rhubarb pudding with plenty of whipped cream on top.


Rabarbagrot (Rhubarb Pudding)

From Norway-hei.com

1 1/2 lbs. rhubarb cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar

Heat 1 1/2 cups water and 3/4 cup sugar to boiling, stirring occasionally. Add fruit. Simmer uncovered until rhubarb is tender, about 10 minutes. Mix 1/4 cup water and cornstarch; stir into rhubarb mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute over medium heat while continuing to stir. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour into serving bowl or individual dessert bowls.

When ready to serve, beat whipping cream with 2 tablespoons sugar in chilled bowl until stiff. Spoon onto rhubarb pudding and serve.

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Prize-winning Rhuberry Pie

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the May/June 1989 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To subscribe, call 800-456-5117.

Somewhere between raising and butchering 2,500 chickens, keeping track of two little boys, gardening and helping her husband, Eugene, with the farm, Marilyn Moeller of Huron won the state rhubarb pie contest in 1988 with a rhubarb-berry blend.

“It was named by my husband. The pie had to have a rhubarb base, and I added raspberries.” She laughed at the suggestion that there might be a secret to good pies.”It helps to raise your own rhubarb. I like the fresh garden rhubarb, it’s sweeter and fresher than anything you can buy. And we like the strawberry rhubarb better than the green stuff.”

Her state victory is proof that practice makes perfect. Marilyn started to make pies at age eight.”My mom (Aileen Luckhurst of Clark) was a 4-H leader and she taught me how. She held pie-making classes when we lived on the farm near Garden City. It was always my job to go get the rhubarb and cut it up.”

She probably learned a few more tricks at Brookings, when she graduated with a home economics degree from South Dakota State University in 1979.

While some gardeners adhere to the philosophy that you should not harvest rhubarb in months starting with the letter”J,” Marilyn said her family ate it all summer.”It probably depends partly on how hot the weather is, whether the plant gets enough water, and when you pick it. The more you pick, the more the plant will produce. Also, if you pick it small it will be sweeter.”

Rhuberry Pie

Crust (makes two):
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp water
3/4 cup shortening

Filling:
4 tbsp flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 cups diced rhubarb
Ω cup frozen raspberries in sauce
Ω cup cran-raspberry sauce

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. To prepare crust, mix flour and salt together. Cut in shortening. Add water one tablespoon at a time until dough is of proper consistency. Divide in half, roll out and place one half in pie pan. Reserve other half for top crust.

For the filling, sift flour and sugar together. Add beaten egg, fruit and sauce, and stir together. Pour in pie pan. Cover with top crust and cut steam vents. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 35 minutes or until done.

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Bernie’s Favorite Dessert

By Katie Hunhoff

The Hunhoffs have been gathering for a Fourth of July picnic for over 20 years. Culinary-wise, it’s the highlight of the summer. Two long picnic tables are full of delicious summer salads and desserts. The main course is hotdogs from Steiner’s Locker in Yankton (which is also located just a couple of doors down from our magazine office and my house — so I like to say I live in the meatpacking district).

Some new foods crop up each summer at the picnic. This year, for example, my cousin Matt’s girlfriend, Kelsey, brought homemade candy corn in red, white and blue instead of orange, yellow and white. Kelsey actually has her own blog, Kelso’s Candy Dish, where she posts about her candy-making experiments.

And each year at the picnic I’ve also come to expect some old favorites, including Emma Lou’s rhubarb dessert. There would be a lot of disappointed people at the picnic if she missed bringing it one year. Here’s the official picnic invite we got this year from my dad:

Subject: Fourth of July Picnic

Hi Everybody,

Remember, we’re meeting at noon at the usual picnic shelter in Gavins Point for our annual Fourth of July Hunhoff picnic. Mark says we should just do what we always do, which means I will eat five hot dogs and try to hide Lou’s rhubarb dessert from you. See you on Monday at the lake.

He did try to hide it, but we were watching. Everybody had a chance to enjoy the dessert, and now you can do the same because Lou gave us the recipe.

Rhubarb Torte

2 cups flour
1 cup butter (Lou uses Blue Bonnet ole)
4 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Crumble together and pat into 9×13 cake pan. Bake in 325 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until it starts to brown.

Filling:
6 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup sour cream (Lou has always made with carnation milk)
4 tablespoons flour
4.5 cups rhubarb

Beat egg yolks with hand beater. Add sugar. Then add milk and flour. Pour over rhubarb and cook oat medium-high heat on your stovetop until it becomes thick. Lou said this happens pretty fast, and to stir constantly. Be careful because it will burn. Pour hot into the hot crust.

Top with meringue made with the 6 egg whites, 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar, pinch of salt, and one cup of sugar. Beat these ingredients until stiff peaks form. Put meringue on filling and brown until quite dry in a 350 degree oven.

The torte can be refrigerated overnight, which Lour does if she’s taking it somewhere the next day. You an also use powdered sugar instead of regular sugar in the meringue and Lou says it won’t “weep” as much.

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Rhubarb Margaritas

By Katie Hunhoff

Enjoy a South Dakota summer evening with this tart and sweet margarita recipe. Photos by Katie Hunhoff.

I’ve heard from several friends that the rhubarb harvest is amazing this year. If you’re getting tired of rhubarb tarts and pies, margaritas are a fun way to use up your reserves. This recipe is the perfect blend of tart and sweet. We enjoyed them at a friend’s birthday party last week. They take more time to prepare than, say, opening a bottle of beer, but they are worth it. We had a beautiful evening savoring the margaritas, listening to the ice clink in our glasses and feeling a warm summer breeze.

Rhubarb Margaritas

(Recipe by Laura Johnson)

Pick a mess of rhubarb. Cut rhubarb into chunks, throw it in a large pot, pour in enough water to cover, and boil for 10-20 minutes or until rhubarb goes mushy. Let cool. Strain rhubarb juice from rhubarb mush. (Mush is good mixed with sugar and put on top of ice cream or toast — maybe even cake). Measure juice, add an equal amount of sugar or less, depending on your taste, and bring this mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes or so.

For the margaritas:
2 cups blanco tequila
2/3 cup Patron citronage, triple sec, or Cointreau
1 1/3-1 2/3 cup rhubarb syrup
2 cups pomegranate-nectarine juice (optional)

Shake with ice and serve over ice.