long pinkish sour leafstalks usually eaten cooked and sweetened
<noun.food>
plants having long green or reddish acidic leafstalks growing in basal clumps; stems (and only the stems) are edible when cooked; leaves are poisonous
<noun.plant>
Rhubarb \Rhu"barb\, n. [F. rhubarbe, OF. rubarbe, rheubarbe, reubarbare, reobarbe, LL. rheubarbarum for rheum barbarum, Gr. ??? (and ??) rhubarb, from the river Rha (the Volga) on whose banks it grew. Originally, therefore, it was the barbarian plant from the Rha. Cf. {Barbarous}, {Rhaponticine}.] 1. (Bot.) The name of several large perennial herbs of the genus {Rheum} and order {Polygonace[ae]}.
2. The large and fleshy leafstalks of {Rheum Rhaponticum} and other species of the same genus. They are pleasantly acid, and are used in cookery. Called also {pieplant}.
3. (Med.) The root of several species of {Rheum}, used much as a cathartic medicine.
{Monk's rhubarb}. (Bot.) See under {Monk}.
{Turkey rhubarb} (Med.), the roots of {Rheum Emodi}.
As a perennial, rhubarb is ideal for an elderly gardener seeking lighter chores. You plant it once; after that, it just about takes care of itself.
Margrave does not share my taste for open-ground rhubarb.
(Everything up to this stage can be done well ahead if wished.) Cut the trimmed rhubarb stalks obliquely into one-inch lengths.
An average garden centre is likely not to stock rhubarb at all, and if it does so it will be an unlabelled variety.
The California Raisins are in the middle of a mild rhubarb and the ad-celebrities won't be marching in President-elect George Bush's inaugural parade.
As the admirable Foust points out, rhubarb is rich in vitamin C and non-fattening (he forgets about the sugar). Rhubarb keeps you more regular than a barrel of breakfast bran.
Elizabethan physicians were so fascinated by rhubarb's properties that they even recommended eating the leaf, which can be highly poisonous. Even once rhubarbs were growing in Britain, problems were rife.
In all these years, I've never had to use chemical fertilizer for the rhubarb, nor have I had any problems with diseases or insects.
Swanson, 26, dined on steak and his mother's rhubarb pie after a 24-hour trip from Manila.
Early forced rhubarb at 45-60p a lb (40-65p) is superb this week, reports FFVIB.