Skip to main content

R is for Rhubarb.....

A favorite of pie lovers near and far, rhubarb is another one of those "edible" plants with "inedible" parts. For this tart and tangy vegetable, it's the leaves that are harmful.

One must be cautious when cooking with this versatile stalk. The entire plant contains oxalic acid in varying degrees, but it is in the leaves that the poison is most concentrated. Consume enough of the leafy material, or cook enough of the leaves in with your stalk and you risk some pretty nasty gastrointestinal symptoms. Consume too much and the dose is lethal.







Rhubarb Delight

Kiss the red stalk gently, 
with sweetness and light.
Stew with fruit quietly,
make tart rhubarb delight.

                                                                                 --- e.a.s. demers


Comments

  1. My Aunt used to make raspberry rhubarb pie. I always found it strange that part of a plant could be toxic and the other part okay to eat. We used to eat the stems of wood sorrell in the woods, but the neighbors mother warned us not to eat too much. She was a nurse and I think it was the oxalic acid she was worried about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've actually never had rhubarb pie at all... but, I agree that it's strange that one part of the plant is okay to eat while another part is toxic...

      Delete
  2. I love strawberry rhubarb pie. I haven't had it in ages though.

    {ami}
    http://sundrysumthins.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've always wanted to try rhubarb pie, I have friends who love it, but, it wasn't part of our repertoire.

      Delete
  3. Quite possibly my favorite pie! I'm trying to visit all the A-Z Challenge Blogs in April. My alphabet is at myqualityday.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Share your thoughts!

Popular posts from this blog

A-Z Reflections, year 4....

A-Z blogging challenge for 2014 has come and gone, seemingly without my realizing it. And, though I fell behind once or twice toward the end, I finished this year's challenge right on time. Really, I can't believe it's already over. I feel like I just finished my post for letter A... Year 4, for this blogger, was a far cry from the tortured state of despondency that was most of  Year 3 -- I'll not mention the irony of this year's focus on death being easier to blog about than last year's foray into supernatural creatures, we'll leave that for my therapy sessions *ahem* As always, A-Z brought with it, not only 26 days of unbridled and far-reaching knowledge (disguised as entertaining and thought-provoking blog-posts), but a chance to connect with new faces while reconnecting with familiar faces--who had perhaps drifted away--from A-Z's past.  I am always amazed by the ingenuity and inspiration that comes from lumping a couple thousand folk...

Bitter Honey

Weaving dreams of beguiling gold, a future's price for happiness. What secrets do you, determined, hold? asks the summer wind's soft caress. A guarded name, a hidden hope. Spinning wheels clutching time, grasping straw that falls away, What dreams may come, we soon may find, won't recall at end of day. A cherished life, a memory lost.

K is for Kelpie.....

Today's entry is dedicated to my wonderful social club pledge sister, who sent me off from our college sanctuary with a copy of "Scottish Folk and Fairy Tales", containing an inscription that the "magic and mischief of the Kelpie follow me".... She knew I had an affinity for water and for mischief...and for all-things Celtic--so the Kelpie seemed to suit---- though, I'm not quite as savage as many folktales paint Kelpies. Kelpies are Celtic water horses, believed to haunt the lochs and rivers of Scotland and Ireland. The Kelpie was known to appear as a "lost pony", though, its identity is given away by its constantly dripping mane. Most stories give the color of the Kelpie's coat as black, though there are a few that mention the color white. The texture of the Kelpie's skin is likened to the smoothness of a seal, but its temperature is "cold as death to the touch." Like many other tales of supernatural creatures, the Kelpie...