"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
> Old Mother Ashby wrote:
> >
> > I hardly ever cook rhubarb, which is actually a vegetable.
> > I hated it as a child, it was too tart the way Mum did it.
>
> You were right to trust your instincts.
>
> Quoting from:
>
http://www.deliciouslivingmag.com/he...tentID=1905006
>
> Increasing dietary oxalate, a substance present in rhubarb,
> can lead to an increase in urinary oxalate excretion.

Before starting the next big Dietary Scare what about considering the
doseage. Oxalate is a natural substance present in many plants. We ingest
many potentially harmful substances in small quantities quite regularly.
If you avoided all plants which contained the slightest bit of potential
poison I suspect your diet would be very poor. How much rhubarb over what
period would it take to be likely to cause some harm? How often has it been
shown that a person has actualy suffered harm from eating it?

On the question of taste, yes rhubarb can be very tart even with a good
amount of sugar. I happen to like it but I can see that some would prefer
to soften it by adding something (like apple) that benefits from a bit of
tartness.

David