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Why Shouldn’t You Eat Rhubarb Leaves? – The Chemistry of Rhubarb

It’s generally thought that this is due to the presence of a chemical compound called oxalic acid. This compound doesn’t just occur in rhubarb – it also occurs in lower amounts in spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. Obviously, we eat those pretty regularly just fine; in vindication of the old adage ‘the dose makes the poison’, it’s the higher concentration in rhubarb leaves that poses the problem. Rhubarb leaves have a comparatively high oxalic acid content of around 0.5 grams per 100 grams of leaves. This is present in the form of oxalic acid, and also in the form of calcium and potassium oxalate salts, and is at a level much higher than that found in other portions of the…

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 Four Things You Didn’t Know About Rhubarb

Long before it became a weird and wacky culinary marvel, rhubarb’s roots were believed to aid in digestion. The roots were cultivated as far back as 2,700 B.C. for their bowel-emptying properties, and of course this led folks to believe rhubarb cured various stomach ailments. While the science is still out on that one, the belief persisted, appeared in various tales of miracle cures for emperors and kings, and spread throughout Europe.

Articles of Interest

The Rundown on Rhubarb Health Benefits

Proper preparation turns this toxic plant Into a healthy treat.

Can Rhubarb Become Toxic?

The usual issue of concern with oxalic acid-containing foods is the production of calcium oxalates in our body, which comprise kidney stones. Heed the earlier warning: Do not eat any rhubarb leaves and you will be fine. Have you ever heard the expression “the dose is the poison?” Many vegetables, especially leafy greens such as spinach, swiss chard, beet greens and cabbage, also contain small amounts of oxalic acid. If you eat the recommended amount of vegetables, you are consuming some of this natural chemical.

Celebrate the Rhubarb

Rhubarb is an herbaceous perennial that became a food staple only in relatively recent history. The plant was highly valued for medical purposes, its roots applied for various ailments. The ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides described rhubarb and its physic properties in his De Materia Medica (written between 50 and 70 AD).

Crustless Rhubarb Custard Pie

Sweet, tangy, and wonderfully creamy—this Crustless Rhubarb Custard Pie is a breeze to make and impossible to resist!

Does Rhubarb Deserve Its Killer Reputation?

Like eggplant and bitter melon, rhubarb was first adopted by the Chinese as a medicine: ancient Chinese and, later, Greeks and Romans all used the dried roots as a laxative. Nobody considered actually eating rhubarb for another several centuries—and perhaps sensibly so, since the leaves are poisonous and the raw red or green stalks are sour enough to set teeth on edge. The chemical villain in rhubarb leaves is oxalic acid, a compound also found in Swiss chard, spinach, beets, peanuts, chocolate, and tea. Chard and spinach, in fact, contain even more oxalic acid than rhubarb—respectively, 700 and 600 mg/100 g, as opposed to rhubarb’s restrained 500. Rhubarb’s killer reputation apparently dates to World War I, when rhubarb leaves were recommended on the home front as an alternative food. At least one death was reported in the literature, an event that rhubarb has yet to live down.

Five Ways to Eat Rhubarb

Summer and rhubarb go hand in hand. So do strawberries and rhubarb—in pie. But what else can you cook up with the vegetable?

Health Benefits of Rhubarb

The edible part of the rhubarb plant — the stalk — contains anthocyanins, which yield its bright red color. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid found in foods such as berries, red onions, black beans, red grapes and black plums. They act as antioxidants in test tube studies, but in the human body, their protection seems more likely to come from their role in cancer-preventive cell signaling. Anthocyanins have demonstrated protective effects on blood vessels and blood pressure, and recent research suggests that anthocyanins may offer anti-cancer benefits, too.

Is rhubarb good for you?

Is it a fruit or a vegetable? Is it toxic or safe to eat? Rhubarb is a conundrum to many, but nutrition consultant Fiona Hunter can shed some light and offer us plenty of reasons to give it a try…

Is Rhubarb Healthy? Here's What to Know About This Spring Veggie

You're either a rhubarb person, or you're about to be a rhubarb person. The long, stalk-like piece of produce is a culinary wonder that is packed with nutritional benefits.

Rhubarb Is the Best Spring Vegetable That You Probably Think Is Fruit

It’s rhubarb season, and Booth is making rhubarb two ways. The first is an upside-down cake, dolloped with rosewater whipped cream; while that’s in the oven, we’ll pull together a rhubarb cocktail, perfect for springtime sipping. “I love rhubarb. It looks like celery—it’s a vegetable—but people use it in a way that’s much more fruit-like,” Booth says. Though she was raised in Australia, her parents are Irish. “We would go back and forth, and my grandparents would let it grow wild. I grew up with it.”

Rhubarb Is The Vegetable That Acts Like A Fruit

The leafstalks are the edible part of the plant, and we’ve probably all heard the leaves should not be eaten because they are poisonous. The leaves indeed contain oxalic acid. Many fruits and vegetables contain oxalic acid naturally like spinach and sweet potatoes, but you would have to consume a few pounds of rhubarb leaves for them to be lethal.

Rhubarb will grow bigger and sweeter stalks if gardeners avoid 1 common mistake in May

“Rhubarb is one of the few crops I would not recommend for patio pots. The plants are too hungry and need too much watering and feeding. And they will die down in summer if stressed and they look awful.”

Rhubarb's Secret Life

Preparing rhubarb for cooking is simple enough. (A tip from my rhubarb-growing days: If you're harvesting from a plant, take care not to take more than about a quarter of the stems each season; taking more will sap the rhubarb's energy for future years.) Buy the smallest stems you can find and use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the stringy outer layer.

Rhubarb: Reviving A Forgotten Crop

This is the easiest thing in the world to cook. It takes about five minutes. You just chop it up and put some sweetener with it and put it in a pan with a tight lid, and in about five minutes, it just melts like butter.

Rhubarb: The Preamble to Spring

A vegetable belonging to the buckwheat family, rhubarb is a crop we see typically in stores or at the market in spring. Only its stalks are edible. The leaves contain high amounts of oxalic acid, rendering them poisonous. Rhubarb has a tart taste, verging on bitter. It can be polarizing. Its mention brings either wide-eyed anticipation or the scrunched face of repulsion. Why would anyone eat this?

Scientists explore use of rhubarb in cancer treatments

Rhubarb and custard may be a culinary favourite on this Fair Isle, but scientists are now claiming that it could have health benefits. English garden rhubarb has been discovered to contain chemicals called polyphenols, which have been shown to selectively kill or prevent the growth of some cancer cells.

What we already know about rhubarb: a comprehensive review

Rhubarb has long been used as an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and anticancer medicine in China. However, for a variety of reasons, such as origin, variety and processing methods, there are differences in the effective components of rhubarb, which eventually lead to decreased quality and poor efficacy.