North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["loneroc" <loneroc@countryspeed.com>]

When I bought my house from Old Lady Hackl 18 years ago she had (and I still 
have) a variety she called 'wine rhubarb'  It has very little vigor and I 
almost lost it because I didn't yet appreciate rhubarb and I let grass 
overwhelm it.  I also have a typical giant rhubarb that goes to seed, etc. 
About five years ago I transplanted the wine rhubarb to the garden and 
babied it.  It produces pretty well now on a plant that's about as wide 
across as a leaf of the big one.  In a rhubarb custard pie the wine rhubarb 
is spectacularly better tasting.  It's the difference between having a piece 
and eating the whole pie in a sitting.  It's one of those things that is so 
perfect that it could only get worse, so make the most of it.

I have no idea of the name or original source. Dorothy is a hundred and 
something and lives in town now.  I suppose I could get in touch with her to 
see if she knows more, but probably won't

Steve Herje
Lone Rock, SW WI Usda zone 3-4, where it's 12 below this morning.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Demmon" <mdemmon@gmail.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 7:55 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Are all rhubarbs the same?


The only experience I can relate to this is completely losing my
ability to taste SWEET at all after eating an extremely fresh
extremely hot black spanish radish. Lasted 4-5 days, and brownies just
tasted like soft crumbly cardboard. Anything sweet had no flavor. Very
odd.

-matt

On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 7:06 PM, Stephen Sadler <Docshiva@docshiva.org> 
wrote:
> Could you sense sweet, sour, salty, bitter, or did you lose complex 
> flavor?
> Could the rhubarb have been sprayed? The oxalic acid could theoretically
> have bound to enough zinc to have reduced your sense of taste - but I 
> can't
> find any reference to that actually having happened. If you had that much
> oxalic acid, I would think you would have had other symptoms - burning in
> the mouth, for instance, or vomiting. This is the sort of symptom I would
> take to a doctor.
>
> ~ Stephen
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jay Cutts
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2009 9:20 AM
> To: North American Fruit Explorers
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Are all rhubarbs the same?
>
> Rhubarb question: I had a strange experience with rhubarb not too long
> ago and wonder if anyone has heard of this. After munching on some raw
> rhubarb stalks on a hot summer day (which I remember doing as a kid), I
> basically lost my sense of taste for a week. It was a horrifying
> experience, especially since I didn't know if the loss would be
> permanent. It's hard to describe how devastating it is not to be able
> to taste anything.
>
> I know that rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which is a tiny crystal that
> can physically damage tissues. I know that the leaves of rhubarb are
> not supposed to be eaten for this reason. I wouldn't want anyone to go
> through the taste loss that I experienced, especially if it ends up
> being long lasting. Has anyone heard of this phenomenon? I believe
> that oxalic acid is broken down by cooking.
>
> Jay Cutts
> > I had two rhubard plants side by side in a rhubarb-unfriendly climate and
> I'm surprised how different they were. One was a lot more red and tastier
> but did not thrive; the other did somewhat better, tended to bolt, and
> wasn't as good (I simmered with sugar for tasting). I don't recall now 
> what
> the flavor difference was, I'd have thought rhubard is mostly just tart.
> > Lisa (previously in hot dry sunny Southern Oregon)
> >
> >
> > > thinking of planting out a big patch of rhubarb. I'm
> > > curious if there
> > > is really much difference between rhubarbs, especially as
> >
> >
> >
> >
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--
-matt demmon
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