“Let food be your medicine.” Hippocrates
Rhubarb (rivas in Persian) was one of my childhood snacks, so sour, so good! My favorite snacks were sour back then. The more sour, the more delicious to me as a little girl. Rhubarb is a vegetable, but people use it like fruit too. It grows from East to West, but more in cooler areas. The leaves are not edible and are poisonous, but the red and green stalks are the part that can be washed, chopped, and eaten fresh, or used for all kinds of culinary, nutritional, and even medicinal reasons. One of my favorite recipes is an English jam made of fresh chunks of ginger root and rhubarb that I learned from my sister who lives in England. In America there is strawberry rhubarb pie, which is also delicious. Rhurbarb is also good in fruit drinks or even stews.
Rhubarb has lots of nutritional and health benefits. It has calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A, C, and K and antioxidant, which make it beneficial for healthy skin, bone and blood. Having lots of fiber, it helps lower bad cholesterol and makes your heart and vessels healthier. While it is a natural laxative, it also prevents diarrhea, which means creating balance in bowel movements. Rhubarb has some anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects as well .
Because of its vitamin K content, individuals on blood thinner medication need to be careful using this vegetable. Eating too much rhubarb might cause kidney stone, so like anything else moderation is the key.
“Let’s always eat and drink healthful food and beverages and do it in moderation.” Dr. Sii
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