Rhubarb

Western cuisine's sole entry in the category of 'dessert vegetables,' rhubarb has a tart, berry-like flavor, and its fleshy stalks are a popular base for pies and other fruit-type applications, sometimes mixed with strawberries.

Fast Facts

1. A vegetable, but cooked like a fruit
2. Native to Asia
3. Some parts of the plant are poisonous
4. Often made into jam or pie

Nutrition Facts

1. Serving Size: 1 cup diced, uncooked
2. Calories: 26
3. Dietary Fiber: 2 grams
4. Protein: 1 gram
5. Carbohydrates: 6 grams
6. Vitamin C: 10 mg
7. Vitamin A: 122 IU
8. Folic Acid: 8.7 mcg
9. Calcium: 105 mg
10. Potassium: 351 mg

History

Rhubarb is a member of the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae), and is native to the steppes of Asia (the 'barb' in its name is from the same Greek root word as 'barbarian'). Various parts of the plant have been used medicinally since ancient times, but rhubarb entered culinary records as late as the 1600s, when it came into wide use in England.

Toxicity

Like many edible plants, including spinach, rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which, in excessive doses, can interfere with the metabolism of certain nutrients and with kidney function. For this reason, the leaves of the plant are better left alone. The plant's roots are also a strong diuretic.

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