Rhubarb

Rheum rhabarbarum

vegetable

Long red or green, sour stalks of a large perennial of the sorrel family; only they are eaten, cooked and sweetened, in compotes, pies or jams. It provides nitrates and oxalates.

Origin

Siberia and Northern China

Season (United States)

April to June · grows in your region

Preparation

The stalks only — the leaves concentrate oxalic acid and are not eaten. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it.

Molecules

Vegetable nitratesWhat slows things down Oxalates

Did you know?

In medieval Europe, rhubarb root, a remedy imported from Asia at great cost, was worth several times the price of cinnamon, opium or saffron.