This is probably the simplest and the prettiest of the many lemonades I have made this summer. The most important thing is getting the right balance of tart and sweet for your taste. I recommend soda water to thin out the syrup as the fizz somehow works really well with the rhubarb, but plain water works well too. And, once your syrup is made, save the cooked rhubarb to make rhubarb BBQ sauce!
3 stalks rhubarb, finely chopped
1/2 cup sugar + more at the end if needed
Juice of 6 lemons + zest of 2
1/2 cup water
Place all of the ingredients above except the juice in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat and allow to simmer away for 5 minutes. After that, set the pan aside and let the rhubarb cool in the syrupy liquid.
Once cool, strain the syrup into a pitcher. You will have a bright pink, clear syrup unless -- like me -- you allow some rhubarb sediment to escape (in which case you will end up with some in the bottom of your glass, as illustrated above). Aim for a clear syrup as this is much prettier.
Add the lemon juice to your syrup. Stir to combine and taste. If this is not sweet enough for you, melt some additional sugar in a little boiling water and add it little by little until you achieve the right level of sweetness for you.
Pour syrup a quarter of the way up a tall glass, or a large wine glass. Top up with ice cold water or soda water. If using a tall glass, ice is nice.
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