These will have a longer shelf life – and less red ones could have been picked too early, before becoming fully ripe. Is it pale rather than vividly hued? More yellow and green, with less pink? Go for stalks that are larger and pinker. Examine the size, width, and color of each stalk.You could cut those portions away if the middle of the stalk is still fresh – but then again, you may want to choose fresher stalks that have not oxidized so much with age. Do you see brown, black, or yellowish spots? Are the cut ends starting to look yellow and dried out? This shows that age has begun to settle in. Give the coloration of the stalk skin a good look, too – especially at the ends of stalks where they have been cut.If they’re on the soft side and a bit too pliable, you probably want to pass these up. You should feel that pressing the skin hard would crack it, rather than leaving an impression. Test stalks lightly with your fingers – would they snap in half if you tried? They won’t feel as crisp as celery (a bit rubberier), but if they are so rubbery you don’t think you could snap them, then these stalks are past their prime.At a glance, they should look quite a bit like celery, but they will be very pink or green, sometimes both – the pinker, the better! It’s quite simple to test the stalks to determine how recently picked and ready-to-eat they are. The only downfall of not growing your own rhubarb? You’ll have to check for freshness, wherever you buy it. Head there when rhubarb season arrives, and hand-pick your very own to bring home. Otherwise, all sorts of places – including grocery stores and farmers markets – will have plenty from garden or field. You can find a detailed growing guide on our sister site, Gardener’s Path. When eaten, these parts could negatively affect kidney health, and make you very sick.īut don’t let that scare you! It’s always safe to eat the stalks, which have much less oxalic acid than other parts.ĭon’t have a patch near you? You could always consider growing your own. Why is this important? What some may not realize is that rhubarb is actually a potentially toxic plant, containing high amounts of oxalic acid in the leaves and roots. Some farmers market vendors like to leave the leaf attached for some aesthetic beauty, but these really shouldn’t be brought into your kitchen. Harvesting is simple: with a knife, simply remove the stalk as low down on its base as you can, right above the earth.īe sure to remove the leaf that’s attached by cutting it completely away before preparing or eating. It’s a traditional pastime to get this veggie straight from your garden or personal patch, and something you might be aware of already in your own yard.īut do you know how to harvest it? Or do you have what you suspect to be a rhubarb patch, but you don’t know where to start? It might not be weeds after all – but a well-kept rhubarb patch planted years ago! What’s that funky, big-leaved patch of plants popping up in your yard? As we will discuss further below, avoid the leaves as they are inedible and full of toxins. The stalks are usually a vivid pink purple color but some varieties are a pale pink and sometimes green. It’s a seasonal vegetable (or fruit?) which lasts from April to June. It’s often found at farmers’ markets and in the produce departments of grocery stores where it’s sold by the stalk similar to celery. A New York court, in 1947, declared that it be tanamount to a fruit as it’s often prepared as one (this court decision was based on tariffs as imported fruits had higher taxes at the time). Rhubarb actually a vegetable but is often (and sometimes legally) considered to be a fruit. Later, the edible stalks were prepared as food and that’s how most folks know them today. Rhubarb first came into use as medicine in which the roots were usually used. It is a cultivated herbaceous perennial which grows from short and thick rhizomes. Scientifically (in full unadulterated technobable), it’s a plant in the genus Rheum under the family Polygonaceae. Rhubarb is often called a fruit but is actually a vegetable.
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