Our rhubarb patch is hidden from the house behind a railway sleeper fence. I don't look at it often, so, when I did on Friday I was astounded at the size of the rhubarb. Huge, some of it was. Five minutes later I was chopping the rhubarb and cooking it in a large casserole dish with water and sugar in order to make cordial.
Rhubarb cordial is delicious. Delicious served with ice and water and delicious with prosecco.
The beauty of making the cordial is, once you've extracted the juice, you can use the leftover stewed rhubarb for a crumble. Absolutely nothing is wasted.
RECIPE FOR RHUBARB CORDIAL
Equipment
Casserole dish, sieve, clean and sterilised bottles with lids, crumble dish for stewed rhubarb.
Ingredients
2kg rhubarb
400ml water
900g caster sugar
Method
Wash and chop the rhubarb into chunks. Place into a large casserole dish.
Pour over the water and sugar. Stir.
Bring to the boil then reduce to a low heat with the lid on for about half an hour until the rhubarb is tender. I did mine for about 40 minutes because of the large size of some of the pieces.
Strain the rhubarb and juice through a sieve. Do not throw away the stewed rhubarb. Pop this into a dish for rhubarb crumble (you might even have enough for two crumbles. One for now, one for the freezer.)
Pour the cordial back into the casserole dish and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for two minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow to cool. Pour into washed and sterilised bottles.
Keep in the fridge for about six weeks. But, to be honest, mine will have disappeared within the week.
Serve with ice and water for a refreshing drink. Or with prosecco.
Recipe for Crumble Topping
Take 200g self-raising flour, 100g butter and rub together to resemble bread crumbs. Stir in 100g sugar and a handful of oats. I also added a little cardamon. (You could also try a little ginger - both go well with rhubarb.) Sprinkle over the top of the stewed rhubarb in the crumble dish and bake in the oven at 160 degrees fan for about half an hour.
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