If you’ve never had rhubarb lemonade, or rhubarb in a drink at all, you’re in for a treat. It adds a lovely subtle flavour without overwhelming the lemon and honey. Plus! It’s a fun twist on a typical pink lemonade and very spring-like.
This’ll keep in the refrigerator for a while, and if you want to make a sparkling lemonade, you can reduce the amount of water by half and then do half rhubarb lemonade and half sparkling water when you serve it. A splash of elderflower cordial is a nice addition for a hint of floral flavour.
Make a springtime picnic with a batch of lemonade, some new potato salad, crackers and cheese or a nice spread, and some slices of lemon rhubarb cake.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Rhubarb: green or red, it doesn’t matter, if you’re using the beet trick as outlined below. You can peel if it’s quite late in the season but it’s not necessary for this recipe as the pulp will be strained out.
- Lemons: if you want to keep the zest, grate it off before juicing and dry or freeze!
- Honey: I don’t find maple syrup or other liquid sweeteners to be a good vegan substitute here, but if you are anti-honey you can switch it out.
Step by Step
Step 1: add the rhubarb, water, and beet (if using) to a saucepan.
Step 2: cook until the rhubarb is soft, then puree, removing the beet if necessary.
Step 3: strain the mixture through a fine sieve. This can be used in other recipes, see below.
Step 4: press on the rhubarb to really get the juice out.
Step 5: add the honey and mix to combine.
Step 6: stir in the lemon juice, then chill before serving.
Recipe Notes
Keep in mind that this must be cooked before serving, so you need to take cooling time into consideration. To cool rapidly, place the base of the pot into a bowl of ice water.
Some readers have said they really like the taste of the rhubarb puree after straining. I usually compost it but have added to sweet breads like this rhubarb cake base – if you want to use it, that’s one good way.
Refrigerate for several days in a covered container to prevent it from absorbing any other smells.
Newsletter
Beet for Colour
If you’re lucky enough to get forced or fully pink rhubarb, great! Then you don’t need to worry about swamp-green lemonade.
The trick to getting a perfectly pink lemonade is adding a piece of red beet (peeled) to the green rhubarb as it cooks. It’ll colour the whole mixture a pleasantly rosy colour and you can’t taste it at all. Just be sure to take the beet out before blending.
If you don’t have a spare beetroot, of course you can blend a handful of strawberries into the mix here, or add a few raspberries to get the pink colour (both will taste good).
More Rhubarb Recipes
Rhubarb Ginger Muffins
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Rhubarb Chia Pudding
Rhubarb Almond Cake
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Honey Rhubarb Lemonade
Ingredients
- 300 grams rhubarb, chopped
- 1 litre water
- 60 ml honey
- 80 ml lemon juice about two lemons
Instructions
- Place the rhubarb and water into a medium pot and heat on high, covered.300 grams rhubarb, chopped, 1 litre water
- Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes, or until the rhubarb is soft.
- Remove the pot from the heat and use an immersion blender* to puree until smooth. (Remove the beet before blending if using.)
- Strain this mixture through a fine mesh sieve, pressing gently to extract all of the juice. Discard the remaining rhubarb pulp.
- Stir in the honey and lemon juice.80 ml lemon juice, 60 ml honey
- Place in the refrigerator and cool for at least two hours, or until cold, before serving. It will keep for at least a week if stored in the refrigerator in a sealed bottle.
Notes
* For American cup measurements, please click the pink link text above the ingredient list that says ‘American’.
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
This post was originally published in May 2018. It has been updated most recently as of June 2021.
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sara says
This looks like a perfect summer drink! My husband loves Rhubarb so I’ll definitely give this a try!