Growing up in Greeley, Colorado, my brother and I would pull one red stalk out of the bunch of stalks growing at the edge of my father's garden. The sweet-sour taste would make us pucker up as we took a bite. It would be stringy and sometimes we would add salt for a different taste. Sugar was also good but I preferred just a plain rhubarb stalk to suck and chew.
Facts from the Internet: The large leaves are poisonous. The stalks are edible. It is a vegetable but used as a fruit to make pies and desserts. It's a laxative. The plant came to the United States in 1820. Acid taste like lemon or vinegar.
Today, at a friend's home, we were given some rhubarb from their garden, and as I tasted the sour-jawing-tightening rhubarb I was transported to my Greeley home and my youth. As I tasted the end of the large stalk, my memory was flooded by those memories of long ago.
Rhubarb: Essence of stomach ache.
Ambrose Bierce
When I see or eat rhubarb, I think of my Mom--she made the most Fantastic rhubarb pie--not strawberry-rhubarb, just tart (she used a little sugar but not too much)filling with a flaky tender crust! Yum!!!
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