Snack on this: 5 pieces of rhubarb trivia
1. Fruit or veggie?
Rhubarb is a vegetable — except in the United States, where, to sidestep high import-taxes, it was legally classified as a fruit in 1947.
2. Does rhubarb thrive in Newfoundland?
Duh, rhubarb is a plant that requires cool temperatures, responds well to moisture and tolerates acidic soil. Enough said.
3. Isn't rhubarb poisonous?
Rhubarb is a vegetable — except in the United States, where, to sidestep high import-taxes, it was legally classified as a fruit in 1947.
2. Does rhubarb thrive in Newfoundland?
Duh, rhubarb is a plant that requires cool temperatures, responds well to moisture and tolerates acidic soil. Enough said.
3. Isn't rhubarb poisonous?
Nope. (Well, the leaves are. Snack on the stalks.)
4. Is it really a snack?
Certainly. Rhubarb is used for making sauce, jam, crisp, pie, and so forth. (And if pie can't be a snack, then I'm a cantalope.)
Also, there are kids in these parts who chaw on rhubarb stalks like licorice, with some even raiding local gardens to fuel their habits.
5. Sarah, is it true that, as a child, you were so poor/backward/socially outcast that your only playmates were stalks of rhubarb?
Not really ... but Fred's sister, at age 4, was once visiting her grandmother and noticed a little boy in the neighboring yard. In an attempt to poke her nose through the fence and gain a closer look, Sis tromped through Granny's vegetable patch.
Granny, protective over her plants, burst out the porch door, shaking her dishcloth in Sis's direction. "Go on," yelled Granny, "get away from that rhubarb."
Sis, in the middle of the vegetable patch, burst into tears. Mistakenly believing Granny was referring to the boy, Sis stood there, wailing, "Wah, but I wanna play with Rhubarb."
(This provided Fred with ammo to tease his sister for decades. For example, "Nah nah, you thought the boy's name was Rhubarb"; "Sissy and Rhubarb up in a tree ..."; and other equally sophisticated remarks.)
4. Is it really a snack?
Certainly. Rhubarb is used for making sauce, jam, crisp, pie, and so forth. (And if pie can't be a snack, then I'm a cantalope.)
5. Sarah, is it true that, as a child, you were so poor/backward/socially outcast that your only playmates were stalks of rhubarb?
Not really ... but Fred's sister, at age 4, was once visiting her grandmother and noticed a little boy in the neighboring yard. In an attempt to poke her nose through the fence and gain a closer look, Sis tromped through Granny's vegetable patch.
Granny, protective over her plants, burst out the porch door, shaking her dishcloth in Sis's direction. "Go on," yelled Granny, "get away from that rhubarb."
Sis, in the middle of the vegetable patch, burst into tears. Mistakenly believing Granny was referring to the boy, Sis stood there, wailing, "Wah, but I wanna play with Rhubarb."
(This provided Fred with ammo to tease his sister for decades. For example, "Nah nah, you thought the boy's name was Rhubarb"; "Sissy and Rhubarb up in a tree ..."; and other equally sophisticated remarks.)
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