by Dawn Smith-Pfeifer
Well this is funny! I asked AI to describe something fun about rhubarb and I have to say, it has a sense of humor! (Is that scary or what?) It wrote this for me, and I am NOT making this up:
“Just found out that rhubarb is the Beyoncé of the vegetable world. It’s got a killer tart taste, a vibrant red color, and it knows how to rock that leafy green ensemble. Bow down, folks!” And then it even provided me with a hashtag, #RhubarbRoyalty!
I honestly will never think of rhubarb again without thinking about Beyoncé!
I also did NOT know that rhubarb is classified as a vegetable. Most of the time it’s in bars or jellies and jams. But to be extremely honest, I never really considered it a fruit, because I just don’t consider it. (My husband is NOT a fan. So, I don’t make “things” with rhubarb in them.)
Here are a few other rhubarb facts:
- The stalks are edible. The leaves are poisonous, so don’t eat the leaves. (Hubs would probably say, “The whole thing is poison!”)
- The deeper the red of the stalk, the sweeter the taste.
- Apparently, lots of vitamin K (28% of the Daily Value) and 10% of your daily vitamin C needs.
- According to Wikipedia, the poison in rhubarb leaves is oxalic acid and during World War 1, humans were poisoned after the leaves were mistakenly recommended as a food source in Britain.
- Also from Wikipedia, rhubarb roots were used as a laxative in traditional Chinese medicine for several millennia.
Okay, now that we got all of that out of the way, let’s get to what to DO with all that rhubarb. My coworker Amy shared these recipes:
Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce (insert astonished emoji face here!)
Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars (Amy says they are very easy to make and don’t last long in the refrigerator)
Rhubarb Relish (insert two astonished emoji faces!)
Since I will never be making any of these recipes in my house, I am trusting Amy’s judgment completely, and hoping that she will share a sample of each of her finished masterpieces!
Dawn Smith-Pfeifer is NDFB's Director of Content and Communications and edits On Your Table.