Rhubarb Juice

I needed to replenish electrolytes this past Sunday because it was hot – July come early hot – and I had a lot of outdoor work to do. Rhubarb is a surprisingly decent source of potassium and trace minerals. I came up with this recipe a few years ago and it’s a refreshing way of making sure a bumper crop of rhubarb doesn’t go to waste. A small amount of sugar takes the edge off the sharpness and a small amount of cinnamon and cardamom add just enough to make it interesting.

I had one of those moments doing yard work when the space/time continuum evaporated like sweat in a summer breeze. The gap between my 15 year old self and the man I am now closed in an instant when I came in from working outside in 91°F. heat and quickly drank a glass of rhubarb juice. The sensory impressions of working long hours on the farm with my dad, usually in silence, in the summer heat came flooding back. In a flash, the sights and sounds of the time and place I grew up in seemed to be real and in the present moment.

There’s a timelessness to working in the sun. The rhythms and pace of the days don’t change no matter what the era because the Heat knows it’s the one really in charge.

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Once in a while I’ll catch a glimpse of myself in a piece of glass and I don’t think the reflection looks like me. My shoulders are hunched and I don’t walk with the same smoothness of gait anymore. I’ve played the role of Sisyphus for too long.

But every once in a while the intervening years melt in the heat while working in the sun and it’s the same as it ever was …

Ingredients:

Combine ingredients and boil for 10 minutes. Strain and, if canning, process by the water-bath canning method for 10 minutes. It’s important to study the USDA Guide for Home Canning if you’ve never tried home canning before.