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Forced rhubarb, a vegetable deprived of sunlight, is having a renaissance (2019)
- thedailymail 3y agoMentioned in the article, but forced rhubarb grows so fast you can hear it. This soundcloud file suggests hearing it in a darkened vault by candlelight would be extraordinary experience! https://soundcloud.com/rhubarb-rhubarb-rhubarb/a-mass-of-popping-rhubarb https://soundcloud.com/rhubarb-rhubarb-rhubarb/a-mass-of-pop...
- fayten 3y agoThat is wild, thanks for sharing the soundcloud link!
- frogperson 3y agoOn s calm morning, you can also hear corn growing.
- itronitron 3y agoWell, they definitely need to add rhubarb to Minecraft now.
- darknavi 3y ago1.22 - Strawberry and rhubarb pie update
- some_random 3y agoThe year is 2028 Minecraft update 1.22 part 1 (of 5) comes out, rhubarb and rhubarb seeds were added The structure that rhubarb seeds are found will be added in part 2 (scheduled for 2029) Rhubarb pie will be added in part 4 (scheduled 2032) It's a mid tier food with worse saturation than chicken
- catsarebetter 3y agoThat is wild, wonder if there's an asmr for it
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoThat reminds me of cauliflowers squeaking as they grow with their florets squeezing against themselves.
- refulgentis 3y agoI don't quite understand: constantly, for days? It seems there would be a finite # of buds to burst, and especially at the frequency (4-6 hz?) and relatively finite size of the dark greenhouse...I'm really surprised this is a phenomenon for more than hours. There must be a TON of buds?
- plexxer 3y agoThe article stated half of a million, so very likely yes.
- refulgentis 3y agoThank you I missed that: though it leads me to the opposite conclusion! That's only enough for one day at 5 hz. 5 hz * 60 seconds / min * 60 min / hr * 24 hr / day = 432000
- johtso 3y agoReminds me of hearing the seedpods of gorse cracking and popping in the sunshine.
- Caligatio 3y agoI was actually able to visit the annual Rhubarb festival down in Wetherby and it was much more interesting than expected. In addition to learning about the unusual growing method, it was also surprising the number of rhubarb products for sale (like enough to fill an entire market). My biggest take-away was that Slingbys Rhubarb Gin is delicious!
- pachico 3y agoI live in Spain but I had the chance to travel to northern Europe dozens of times, where I learned to love rhubarb. I really would love rhubarb to grow here but it is almost impossible to find, even in big cities.
- JWoolfenden 3y agomy wife got a patch growing in the back garden after a few failed attempts now we have lots, it's also readily available in supermarkets here in the UK. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rhubarb-crumble https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/rhubarb-crumble
- jeromenerf 3y agoVery common in France if you ever drive by. Usually sold as a small 30cm^3 plant which will probably grown up to 1.5m in diameter the first year. I used to have 7 in 12m2. It’s also possible to grow from seeds, which you can buy online. It will require some dedication. IME a very easy perennial, if you can prevent drought. Plant and forget. Like artichokes.
- pachico 3y agoFrom what I know, not everywhere in France but in the north. It was impossible to me to find this month in Occitane, at least.
- MeteorMarc 3y agoMuch sweeter sounds suspicious. I love ordinary rhubarb but add baking soda to bind much of the acid and then still lots of sugar.
- mtsr 3y agoI’ve read one needs to be careful with that because the resulting oxalate isn’t healthy (increases kidney stone risk, for example).
- Daub 3y agoTime for mention of the rhubarb triangle... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb_Triangle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhubarb_Triangle From the Wikipedia article... The Rhubarb Triangle is a 9-square-mile (23 km2) area of West Yorkshire, England between Wakefield, Morley, and Rothwell famous for producing early forced rhubarb. It includes Kirkhamgate, East Ardsley, Stanley, Lofthouse and Carlton. The Rhubarb Triangle was originally much bigger, covering an area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield. From the 1900s to 1930s, the rhubarb industry expanded and at its peak covered an area of about 30 square miles (78 km2).
- quickthrower2 3y agoThey need to Champagnify that
- rsynnott 3y agoThey did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_food_and_drink_products_with_protected_status https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_food_an... (PDOs granted pre-Brexit continue to be in force, though new ones can't be granted for UK stuff)
- mostthingsweb 3y agoI thought you meant turn it into an alcoholic beverage, so I looked it up and apparently there is such a thing as rhubarb wine.
- kieckerjan 3y agoIt also great in cocktails. https://lundsandbyerlys.com/rhubarb-margarita-a-tangy-twist-on-a-traditional/ https://lundsandbyerlys.com/rhubarb-margarita-a-tangy-twist-...
- sjclemmy 3y agoSlightly tangential but along the same lines. Worth a read, BlackBerry Wine by Joanne Harris. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry_Wine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackberry_Wine
- mongol 3y agoHow do you like to eat rhubarb? I mostly know it from rhubarb pie
- askonomm 3y agoI grew up eating the Rhubarb plant by tipping the root side (stem?) In sugar and just eating it like that. It's very sour like that, which as a kid I loved.
- askvictor 3y agoSame here - the sugar offsets the sourness just enough. Is it a Polish/Eastern European thing?
- Serenacula 3y agoThe classic is rhubarb crumble, a baked dessert typically eaten with custard. It's delightfully sweet and sour, a favourite of mine as a kid.
- conradfr 3y agoAlso rhubarb jam.
- wsc981 3y agoIn The Netherlands ate Rhubarb for dinner. Cooked with crumbled rusk (beschuit [0]) mixed with sugar and eaten with cooked potatoes. And some meat (e.g. steak or sausage). The crumbled rusk is meant to give the cooked rhubarb a thicker structure and the sugar is meant to counter the sourness. Quite delicious imho. ——— [0]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusk#Netherlands_and_Belgium_(Flanders) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rusk#Netherlands_and_Belgium...
- deafpolygon 3y agoRemember: never rub another man's rhubarbs.
- fsckboy 3y agoreference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBQetJqAwk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBQetJqAwk
- chungy 3y agoHave you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?
- veave 3y agoI was also thinking of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1a48_mCVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1a48_mCVM
- deafpolygon 3y agoBatman haters, here.
- rusanu 3y agoRemember that rhubarb leaves are actually poisonous due to oxalic acid (I've seen quotes of 2-5 kg od leaves being a lethal dose). https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/does-rhubarb-deserve-its-killer-reputation https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/does-rhub...
- vanderZwan 3y agoOxalic acid is poisonous? Should I stop eating spinach then? Oh, looks like the article mentions this actually: > Chard and spinach, in fact, contain even more oxalic acid than rhubarb—respectively, 700 and 600 mg/100 g, as opposed to rhubarb’s restrained 500. Rhubarb’s killer reputation apparently dates to World War I, when rhubarb leaves were recommended on the home front as an alternative food. At least one death was reported in the literature, an event that rhubarb has yet to live down. > Oxalic acid does its dirty work by binding to calcium ions and yanking them out of circulation. In the worst-case scenario, it removes enough essential calcium from the blood to be lethal; in lesser amounts, it forms insoluble calcium oxalate, which can end up in the kidneys as kidney stones. In general, however, rhubarb leaves don’t pose much of a threat. Since a lethal dose of oxalic acid is somewhere between 15 and 30 grams, you’d have to eat several pounds of rhubarb leaves at a sitting to reach a toxic oxalic acid level, which is a lot more rhubarb leaves than most people care to consume. That actually sounds like I should be careful with how I consume my spinach (or chard or rhubarb), but more for the sake of kidney stones. I wonder if adding milk or other calcium-rich foods helps? [one search for calcium-rich foods later] So spinach is apparently rich in calcium? I'm getting really confused now.
- mtsr 3y agoThere’s not much you can do since adding chalk (which used to be common for both spinach and rhubarb) just creates the oxalate in the pan instead of your body and you can’t remove it. But cooking with lots of water (very short in the case of spinach) and throwing out the water does help to reduce the amount of oxalic acid.
- markdown 3y ago
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoI spontaneously became allergic to rhubarb in my teens. Damn shame. It was my favorite pie!
- DropInIn 3y agoIf it's been more than a decade get tested to see if it's gone. I had a huge list of allergies developed in my late teens but now they're gone after a couple decades, due to natural age related changes in biochemistry according to the docs.
- askvictor 3y agoWhite asparagus is similarly grown in the dark.
- Luc 3y agoBelgian endive is another vegetable grown in the dark. Vertical farming, no LEDs needed, harvest in 25 days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPr06HDnttU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPr06HDnttU
- whynotmaybe 3y agoTraditional recipe https://www.meilleurduchef.com/en/recipe/endive-ham-gratin.html https://www.meilleurduchef.com/en/recipe/endive-ham-gratin.h...
- efields 3y agoBut first the crop needs a whole season in the sun. You grow normal green endive, pull the whole plant, chop the head, then you’re growing the second flush in the dark from the root mass. Effectively using all the stored energy from the root for one final round of leaf production, but no light prevents photosynthesis and you get Belgian endive.
- NotYourLawyer 3y agoJust like with rhubarb.
- efields 3y agoSimilar. Rhubarb is perennial. You're forcing the first flush of growth for the year but you can't force it all season. Later harvests will look different. Still edible, but you're never pulling the entire plant out of the ground with rhubarb like you have to do for Belgian endive.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y agoAccording to my father, "rhubarb" is what the extras say in crowd scenes in TV and film. They mumble, "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb" and it gives the impression of muted, indistinct background conversations. By the same token, the choral singer who forgets the lyrics during a performance can sing "watermelon, watermelon" until she gets to a place where she recalls the words. The philosophy is that, as long as you get a convincing vowel in there, people will believe anything you sing.
- Adlopa 3y agoThere’s a whole film about ‘Rhubarb’, prompted in part, I think, by that premise. https://youtu.be/EOiwJkMvIYI https://youtu.be/EOiwJkMvIYI
- qingcharles 3y agoAlso "peas and carrots, peas and carrots." Source: was married to a professional actor; saw this used on sets many times.
- bmer 3y agoThis kind of sounds like torture, even though it's directed at plants rather than animals or other humans...
- frereubu 3y agoThis is an enjoyable article from 2017 about the role of Edinburgh in the history of rhubarb in the UK. (I think I may even have originally discovered it on HN). Abstract: Rhubarb was grown and used throughout China for thousands of years. It then found its way to St Petersburg where the Romanovs developed a flourishing trade in the plant to the rest of Europe. James Mounsey, a physician to the Tsar, brought back seeds from Russia to Scotland at considerable risk to himself. He passed some of the seeds to Alexander Dick and John Hope. Both these physicians then grew rhubarb at Prestonfield and the Botanic Garden (both in Edinburgh), respectively. Eventually rhubarb, in the form of Gregory’s powder, became a common and popular medicine throughout the UK. [PDF] https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/jrcpe_47_1_lee.pdf https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/jrcpe_47_1_lee.pd...
- darkclouds 3y agoOxalate sticks.
- riwsky 3y agoMassive kudos to the BBC, for the editorial discipline required here to avoid "[…] is having its moment in the sun"