The rhubarb is still going strong in our CSA and now they've added strawberries! One can only make so many strawberry rhubarb pies without it reaching the level of absurdity so I've been thinking of new ways to utilize my stock of strawberries and rhubarb without repeating the same recipes over and over. We've been having amazing weather, and I think summer might finally be here to stay, so all I really want to drink is iced tea and lemonade. As a kid I remember going to Red Robin and getting their "freckled lemonade" which was lemonade with muddled strawberries in the bottom. This lemonade recipe doesn't have muddled fruit (though why the heck not, right? Go for it), but it's way more delicious than Red Robin's. I'm having a hard time not guzzling straight through it. I think my blood sugar thanks me for making that effort.
One of my favorite things about summer is lemonade stands on street corners. Kids with their pitchers full of crystal lite and scrawled signs. I lived on a small cul-de-sac growing up and there wasn't any foot traffic and the only cars that rolled through were our neighbors, so I didn't ever get to have a lemonade stand, except for one time when we had a garage sale. I remember we got those costco jelly-filled pastries and giant muffins and sold those too. I also remember sleeping in until like 1 pm, so I probably missed half of my potential customers. It was summer! Sleeping in on summer break is, like, totally legit, though not recommended for fledgling entrepreneurs.
Ingredients
3 stalks rhubarb, chopped
1 lb strawberries, pureed (use a blender or food processor)
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
1 cup lemon juice
1. Pour the water, sugar and rhubarb into a large pot and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in strawberries.
2. Let it sit for about 45 minutes and then strain through a sieve or cheesecloth.
3. Refrigerate the syrup for 1 hour and then stir in lemon juice. If it's too sweet for your taste, add water and/or lemon juice until it reaches the desired taste. If you have powdered or premade lemonade, you can always add the strawberry/rhubarb simple syrup to that to give it flavor, too.
4. Serve over ice. I garnished with some mint, because who doesn't love a garnish? Oh, and if you're feeling a bit saucy, throw in a 1/2 oz of vodka!
