Choice Morsel: The Rise of Rhubarb, Part 1

Two local restaurants perfecting rhubarb mocktails

It was way back in 2005 when Sharelle Klaus launched DRY sodas (above), her line of sophisticated, all-natural soft drinks that she developed, designed, and even bottled in Seattle. (Today DRY Soda is bottled in California.) Among her four original flavors was rhubarb, inspired, Klaus says, by her grandmother’s rhubarb pies. You could say that Klaus was ahead of the curve, because rhubarb drinks, alcoholic and not, are popping up on cocktail menus all over town these days.

If you haven’t given them a try, it’s time.

Read more after the jump.

Technically a vegetable, though we treat it like a fruit, rhubarb has been growing in popularity over the years. I think the trend toward fresh, local ingredients has really forced rhubarb into the spotlight. After all, rhubarb precedes other fruit — strawberries, cherries, raspberries — by a good many weeks, if not months. In April and May, rhubarb is the only fresh and local “fruit” available, so local chefs have been having a field day with it. Over the last few years I’ve come across rhubarb in compotes and sauces, pies and crumbles. At Le Pichet it’s served in a clafoutis (that’s a baked French dessert, typically made with cherries).

But this year, it seems, rhubarb as a beverage has finally come into its own. Dinner at Joule in Wallingford this spring just isn’t complete without a carafe of their Rhubarb Ginger Shrub (below), a vinegar-based non-alcoholic drink made with the macerated fruit.

I think rhubarb gives their shrub a little extra pucker, and it’s certainly responsible for its day-glo appearance. Shrubs are wildly popular now in South Korea and Japan, especially for their health benefits, but they’ve been around for centuries and were particularly popular in the U.S. in Colonial times. It’s time for a comeback.

At The Corson Building, Fou de Rhubarb (below) is on the menu. I’m a big fan of this non-alcoholic quencher, a combination of house-made rhubarb simple syrup and sparkling water with a dash of lemon juice and some blood orange.

But if you’re looking for a rhubarb beverage that packs more of a punch, The Corson Building has that too. So do other restaurants around town.

Check out Seattle’s rhubarb cocktails — with alcohol — in the next installment of Choice Morsel.