Rhubarb Candy: A Two-for-One Sweet and Sour Treat

A Childhood Taste, Rediscovered

Rhubarb with sugar is a childhood taste for me. I must have grabbed enough pieces while my mom made crisp that it became a nostalgic flavor. Recently, while chopping rhubarb, I was telling our son about it. We do not use much refined sugar in our home, so he had never tried it. I made him a bowl of rhubarb dipped in sugar and tried my own with honey instead.

It tasted so lovely, almost like sour candy, that I went searching for a rhubarb candy recipe. And what do you know, it exists! I found a sweet little recipe from a fellow believer here in Alaska. Her version uses sugar, so I modified it to use honey, and the results were delicious, really a two for one product. The rhubarb soaks up sweetness from the honey to become candied rhubarb, and what is left behind is a rhubarb honey syrup. I am always up for saving time, so a two for one recipe like this is totally my jam.

Why You Will Love This Honey Rhubarb Candy

This rhubarb candy recipe is a wonderful way to use up a rhubarb harvest. It is naturally sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar, so it fits right into a real food or scratch kitchen. It is also a two for one recipe, since the liquid the rhubarb releases becomes a ready-made rhubarb syrup you can use for drinks, pancakes, or a drizzle over yogurt. And because the flavor lands somewhere between sour candy and fruit leather, it is a fun way to introduce kids to rhubarb without any food coloring or corn syrup involved.

What You Will Need

Rhubarb, cut into pieces and then into strips. Honey, enough to coat the rhubarb well, or sugar if you prefer the traditional version. That is truly all it takes to make this simple honey rhubarb candy recipe.

How to Make Honey Rhubarb Candy

• Cut the rhubarb into pieces, then slice those pieces into strips.

• Coat the rhubarb strips in honey, or sugar if you prefer, and let them sit for several hours, about eight, so the rhubarb has time to soak up the sweetness and release its juice.

• Remove the rhubarb pieces from the liquid and set them aside. Save the liquid. It becomes a naturally sweetened rhubarb syrup, so do not pour it out.

• Dry the rhubarb strips in the oven at 175 degrees Fahrenheit until they reach the texture you like, either flexible like fruit leather or crunchy like a dried fruit chip.

• I used wire racks set over a parchment lined cookie sheet, which let air move around the strips as they dried. A parchment lined cookie sheet alone should also work well if you do not have wire racks on hand.

Baking and Drying Time

Drying time varies quite a bit depending on the thickness of your rhubarb strips and how flexible or crunchy you want the finished candy. A small batch dried alongside fruit leather in my oven and took a few hours, so plan for a flexible afternoon and check the strips periodically until they reach the texture you are after.

Do Not Forget the Rhubarb Syrup

The honey and rhubarb juice left behind after soaking is a bonus rhubarb syrup, and it is arguably just as good as the candy itself. Store it in the refrigerator to sweeten drinks, pour over pancakes or oatmeal, or stir into yogurt.

Tips for Success

If you have rhubarb galore, like most of us do this time of year, go ahead and make a larger batch than what is pictured here. This recipe scales easily, and extra dried rhubarb candy stores well for snacking later. Keep an eye on the strips as they dry, since oven times will vary, and pull them earlier for a chewy fruit leather texture or later for a crisp, sour candy bite.

A Sweet Reminder

This one is going straight to the top of my list for next rhubarb season. It is a little like fruit leather, but it has its own sour, sweet personality that stands on its own. If your rhubarb patch is producing more than you know what to do with, give this honey rhubarb candy a try. It is a simple way to turn a humble garden vegetable into a treat the whole family will remember.