Rhubarb Syrup
Rhubarb cooks down so quickly, this project takes less than an hour and the payoff is astonishing. It also has a pleasing economy: you get a lovely syrup to make drinks with, alcoholic and nonalcoholic, while the fibrous pulp that you strain off may in fact be the best part, spooned atop yogurt with fresh strawberries, or as a silky, tart ice-cream topping. This could be made as a simple syrup, but it's hard then to adjust the sweetness for differing tastes and applications. Sometimes you want to incorporate it as a sour into drinks that have other sweetened ingredients; and if you want to use the pulp on ice cream or sweetened yogurt, keeping it tart is a better option. So, just just simmer down the fruit with one vanilla pod and use it unsweetened, which offers more room to maneuver.
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