Rhubarb as a Spring Drink?

The Raw and the Cooked

Refreshing cold rhubarb drinks — they’re particularly Persian (the word is sharbat) — start with syrup. You cook the cut-up stalks in water and sugar until they’re soft, and you strain so as to have the clear, fruit-tasting liquid. It’s then flavored with mint or rose water (which are Persian) or with honey, citrus, basil, thyme, hyssop, rosemary, or something else. (I’m thinking of non-alcoholic drinks, but the flavorings overlap with the world of rhubarb cocktails.) The syrup is pointed up with lemon or lime juice and served chilled and diluted with water, preferably sparkling. We don’t normally eat tart, astringent uncooked rhubarb, but spring is full of fresh raw tastes, and the juice of anything is the essence. I wondered, does raw rhubarb have the real spring taste?