Homemade rhubarb juice is amazingly delicious. I think just drinking rhubarb straight would be a bit tart, but Lovina – and other Amish cooks – tame it with blends of orange and pineapple juice and, of course, sugar. Rhubarb remains one of the most reliable spring staples in Amish kitchens as it can be made into juice, baked into coffeecakes and cookies, and pureed into jams. This is a photo of an Amish woman’s supply of homemade rhubarb juice which she has been hard at work making this week. Doesn’t it look delicious!? I have re-posted her recipe below also.
Rhubarb juice
8 pounds rhubarb, diced
8 quarts water
2 (12-ounce) cans of frozen orange juice
2 (46-ounce) cans of pineapple juice
4 cups sugar
2 (3-ounce) boxes strawberry gelatin
Combine rhubarb and water and cook until rhubarb is soft. Drain, discarding rhubarb, and add the rest of ingredients to the juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Put hot juice into jars, seal and cold pack for five minutes.
Your Delicious Homemade rhubarb juice is ready.
12 Comments
Amy Pleas
Yum… its such a pretty color too.
My grandmother used to make rhubarb cobbler.
Wendy
This sounds yummy, but a bit on the sweet side for me! I wonder if anybody has made rhubarb juice with just fresh strawberries and sugar. (Strawberries and rhubarb are made for each other.)
Patty Sines
Looks delish! I think I want to make a batch…by cold pack does Lovina mean water bath canner?
Kevin
Patty, yes that is what she means!
Dee Taylor
Hey there! If you open a can of the Rhubarb Juice, do you drink it “as is”, or do you dilute it with a can of water? (I’m wondering if this is canned as a “concentrate”.) This sounds really good, please let me know. Thanks!!
Kevin
Dee, what you see in the picture is “drinkable” as is…the rhubarb juice pictured is the one in the recipe…It can be made as a concentrate, but that is just tasty drink-as-is rhubarb juice!
Dee Taylor
Thanks for your help, Kevin–love your website, and Lovina’s recipes!
Seana
I’ve made this since I ran across the recipe in the column a couple of years ago. In that column, Lovina mentioned that she sometimes added 7UP to make it more like a punch. Due to a family history of diabetes, I don’t add ANY sugar to it and then I add a can of diet 7UP or Sprite to it. I’ve never hot water bathed but I do run it through my pressure canner for 5 minutes with 5 lbs pressure. Love the color when I use strawberry/banana jello but black cherry jello turns it a muddy brown!
Mona G.
It looks good…is there anything Lovina can’t do ??? She sounds like a great cook…….Is this mostly put up for weddings and parties , or just a fruit drink for a snack ?
I have never liked rhubarb, but I would drink this……I don’t think you can find this in the grocery store !!!!
Mary Lehan
When I owned my home, I had five rhubarb plants that kept me in rhubarb juice all the time. But I made mine another way.
Into a dutch oven I placed cut rhubarb until about 1 inch from the top. Then added enough water to cover. Bring to a boil on the stove, and simmer for about 15 minutes. Turn off the burner, cover and cool, or leave overnight. Take a 5 gallon tupperware container, place a collendar on the top and a dish towel over it. Pour the rhubarb juice into the towel and let drain until all the juice has drained through. Put juice back in the dutch oven and add 1-1/2c. sugar and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Discard the pulp. Turn off the burner, and put into an empty milk jug or jars. Or mix the juice with apple juice, or cherry juice, or leave plain. It will keep in the refrigerator for several months without going bad. I loved the taste of the juice and sometimes would use it instead of milk over cereal, or thicken and pour over ice cream. It was always a welcome treat.
Dan Dumont
Rhubarb juice,strawberry rhubarb jam,rhubarb pie,rhubarb coffee cake.
It’s all goooood!!! I always thought rhubarb was icky too, I was wrong!
Dawn Kirk
I have been making Lovina’s canned grape juice for a few yrs. now.It’s in one of the bound older cookbooks.I can’t find it among the shelves just now-I can tell you when I find it.
In the recipe (which is more like a brief story not an actual recipe,) she puts a good handful of Concord grapes into a mason jar,adds a half cup of sugar more or less to your liking & dietary needs,then uses the water bath method.
I’m not an expert on the water bath method so I merely put the jars(tightly sealed)into the racks around the sides of the pot-I was lucky to find this pot in someone’s trash!..I then simmer as high as possible for half an hour or so.It is hard to achieve a rolling boil for some reason.All the jars go into the fridge in case they weren’t sealed properly.Wait a few wks. before drinking,sometimes I get a dull tasting one but we add some else to it & it’s fine.The jars keep for months..There is a person here in my town who has Concord grapes,they were there when they moved in & I knew about them & offered to pay something,they said don’t worry.So,I paid them in cherry tomatoes from my plants! My sons esp. love the grape juice. This rhubarb juice is a lovely color.