The rhubarb grew big early this year. So did the dandelions. I made one gallon of dandelion wine, but I decided to do only one. Instead, I'm opting to try rhubarb wine.

We had a dry April, but the rhubarb sure plumped up with several good days of rain this past week. I took 3 lbs out of half my patch and tried this recipe from First Steps In Wine Making by C. J. J. Berry.

3 lbs of rhubarb, washed and cut in 1/4 inch slices
5 cups of white sugar
Filtered water to make up a gallon when added to the juice
1 packet of Champagne yeast
1/2 tsp yeast nutrient

Put the cut-up rhubarb into a foodsafe container or bowl. Don't use aluminum. Mix the sugar with it and let "steep" for 24 hours under a cover. I used a large stainless steel bowl with a cookie sheet as my "lid". You can stir it a couple of times to make sure the sugar dissolves in the juice that forms.

The next day I had much smaller pieces of rhubarb afloat in a quart or so of juice. Strain into another container. Leave the rhubarb in the strainer and stir filtered water through it to get out the sugar. Measure what you have and use the amount of water needed to make up a gallon to rinse the rhubarb again.

Since the filtered water was from the fridge, I heated the sugar-rhubarb juice-water mixture to about lukewarm before stirring in the yeast and yeast nutrient. I then put it in a gallon glass jug and set up a fermentation lock. It's happily bubbling in my coolish cellar right now (at around 60 deg F).

What to do with the rhubarb pieces? I thought I'd make rhubarb sauce with them. I had some old strawberry-rhubarb jam that I added for sweetener. I noticed that when the mixture boiled the rhubarb didn't fall apart -- conserve! I had some cut-up pineapple that I added along with some strawberry spread and some grated ginger. The result make a wonderful substitute for date filling in date bars or Mainly Oats Cookie Bars.

Wine Variations

Rhubarb-Elderflower Wine: After 24 hours, before you pour off the rhubarb juice, bring 2 quarts of filtered water to a boil. Pour this over a quart of elderflowers. Let steep for about ten minutes. Remove the flowers and use the elderflower "tea" to get out the remaining sugar in the rhubarb. Top up with more filtered water as needed.

Rhubarb-Spearmint Wine: Steep a quart of spearmint (stems and leaves) plus 1 green tea bag as for the elderflower variation. Remove the spearmint and tea bag and use the brew to get out the remaining sugar in the rhubarb. Top up with more filtered water as needed.