Whether you love it or hate it, Rhubarb (Rheum Palmatum / Rhabarbarum) is one of the earliest edible garden plants ready in the spring! Depending on your geographical position, you can start picking rhubarb stalks from March right up until the autumn.
IS IT A FRUIT OR A VEGETABLE?
Although usually served as a desert, rhubarb is neither fruit nor vegetable but an HERB from north-west China and Tibet, where it has been used in traditional medicine for more than 2,000 years! It did not arrive in Europe until the Renaissance, when it was brought in overland through Asia Minor and mistakenly called “Turkey Rhubarb”.
RHUBARB WORKS WITH THE LIVER
Both Eastern and Western herbal medicine recognise rhubarb as an important plant for the Liver, taken as a laxative and as a liver stimulant. Whereas in the West, we tend to use the STALK as a food, in the East it’s the ROOT that is valued medicinally.
RHUBARB ROOT
The Chinese call the root “Da Huang”, meaning “Big Yellow” because of the colour of Rhubarb Root tinctures and decoctions. Traditional Chinese Medicine associates the colour Yellow with the Liver Organ, most active in the spring, which is when even us Westerners usually take “Detox Diets” to tone up the digestive system! However, Chinese herbalists harvest rhubarb roots in the autumn, often drying it and powdering it to add to herbal mixtures. In Chinese tradition, Rhubarb Root is classed as “bitter, dry and cold” and is used to clear “HEAT” from the liver, stomach and blood and to get “Stagnant Blood” moving again. In Western herbalism, Rhubarb Root is also recognised as antibacterial and astringent and a strong decoction helps relieve boils and suppurating skin diseases.
In my opinion, using the rhubarb stalks as a food gives you as many benefits as the herbal root preparations. It has certainly helped my liver and digestion over the years! Fresh from the garden is best because rhubarb stalks go limp and lose their goodness if left lying around. Thankfully raw rhubarb chunks freeze well and can be used later to make jams, preserves, syrups and juices. As Rhubarb tends to be tart, add a few leaves of herb Sweet Cicely to the pan when cooking and this reduces the amount of sugar needed.
TOXIC RHUBARB LEAVES DISCOURAGE APHIDS!
In contrast to the root and stalks, Rhubarb LEAVES are potentially TOXIC and should always be removed before cooking the stalks. That said, the discarded rhubarb leaves do have other uses. They make excellent compost. Alternatively, you can soak the leaves in rain water for a week or two, after which you strain off the concentrated liquid: then you dilute it, to use as a natural deterrent against aphids!
Despite its many positive qualities, like all herbs, Rhubarb can have side-effects, if you suffer from certain conditions. Its chemical composition includes anthraquinones, tannins, calcium oxalate, resins and minerals. So avoid rhubarb if you are pregnant because it is a strong purgative. Its oxalates can also irritate gout and arthritic conditions.
USEFUL KITCHEN GARDEN PLANT
All-in-all, this is a very useful plant to have in the kitchen garden, providing early food, free medicine, and rich compost. Even our cats and dogs love sitting under the shade of the big rhubarb leaves during the summer! What more can you ask?!
REFERENCES:
The Herb Society’s Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody MNIMH, published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd, London 1993,
ISBN: 0 7513 0025 X
Author: Veronica Smith first published on 10th April 2016.
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