By admin | April 13, 2009
Submitted by Ledge and Gardens Blog
Cold and now snowing!
Is there a plant with a more interesting spring debut? Convoluted leaves and bright, cherry red stalks heave themselves from the cool, spring earth.
I can only imagine the anticipation of the cook of kitchens past when availability of spring vegetables depended on the local gardener. We all have access to greens, fresh vegetables and fruit twelve months of the year but just think what it must have been like to visit the root cellar and realize that there were only a few potatoes and a couple of edible squash left with spring taking its’ time and nothing more in the larder. Many turn their nose up and their palates away from rhubarb but the tangy tartness would be a welcome relief from root vegetables I think. 
Rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber, rhubarb is welcome on my plate anytime. The leaves of rhubarb, while beautiful and large, do contain oxalic acid crystals which are poisonous if eaten. They can cause the tongue and throat to swell and most know to leave them on the compost heap. The stems are fibrous and tart and make great pies, jams and jellies and some have posted on making rhubarb juice for a delicious rhubarb martini. That is on the list! If I want a rhubarb pie for this Easter dinner, I will have to go buy some rhubarb as it is just not quite big enough for picking. I like it, do you?
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