can you eat wild rhubarb?

[pianistimo]

another eventful bikeride.  i won't go into details unless thal asks - but i did see a lot of wild rhubarb.  i was thinking of rhubarb and strawberry pie - but is wild rhubarb poisonous?  or is it ok to eat after cooking? 

[nicco]

i remember i used to dip then in sugar and eat them...tasty

[prometheus]

When it comes to argaculture rhubarb Only the leaves can cause poison.

My father grows them in his garden. He uses the branches to create a porridge.

Let me note that while not poisonous, it does taste that sour.

Wild rabarber? Don't know. Is there a difference?


Usually, the wild variant is nothing like the agricultural version. But it would have been strange to delop an unedible food into a non-poisonous one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb

It seems that these plants are native to asia. If this goes for all species then that means that what you saw was not indigenous. So then it is probably a argicultural variant that has gone wild.

So I am not sure.

[thalbergmad]

I would not eat wild rhubarb.

Tame rhubarb is better, best to break it in first.

Thal

[berrt]

I would not eat wild rhubarb.
Thal

Only watch it - from a safe distance

[thalbergmad]

Only watch it - from a safe distance

That is very true. You can never be too careful with wild rhubarb.

Thal

[pianistimo]

thanks.  thanks very much.  i will not eat 5kgms of rhubarb leaves and i will leave wild rhubarb alone.  this one had much different leaves (i think) and sort of clusters of berries on the ends.  maybe it isn't even rhubarb.  might have scared some people on the trail if i started munching. 

apparently, the audubon house (not far from the trail) has these pamphlets of plants and birds and explains in the plant brochure which ones are edible.  now, i have to go look up these audubon people before i chew on bark or start nibbling what i think are rasberries.

[thalbergmad]

might have scared some people on the trail if i started munching. 

I think you probably scared them anyway.

Thal

[trunks]

I won't eat rhubarb in ANY form.
Can't stand the sour taste.

[timothy42b]

Where I grew up everybody had a rhubarb patch in the yard somewhere, even if you didn't have a garden.

It's a spring plant.  By summer the stems are woody and inedible, though not poisonous.  Then they fade. 

If you've think you've found some at this time of year, there's a good chance you've  misidentified it.  There are several broad leaved plants that look quite similar.  I wouldn't risk it unless somebody local is able to help.