History

Origin of rhubarb |

The precise origin of culinary rhubarb is unknown. The species Rheum rhabarbarum (syn. R. undulatum) and R. rhaponticum were cultivated in Europe before the 18th century and used for medicinal purposes. By the early 18th century, these two species and a possible hybrid of unknown origin, R. × hybridum, were grown as vegetables in England and Scandinavia. They hybridize easily, and culinary rhubarb was developed by breeding for open-pollinated seeds, so its precise origin is almost impossible to determine.^[1] In appearance, samples of culinary rhubarb vary on a continuum between R. rhaponticum and R. rhabarbarum. However, modern rhubarb cultivars are tetraploid with 2 n = 44, unlike 2 n = 22 for wild species.^[2]

Tanhuanpää, Pirjo; Suojala-Ahlfors, Terhi and Hartikainen, Merja (2019). "Genetic diversity of Finnish home garden rhubarbs (Rheum spp.) assessed by simple sequence repeat markers".
Libert, Bo and Englund, Roger (1989). "Current distribution and ecology of Rheum rhaponticum (Polygonaceae)".

Edible rhubarb |

Edible rhubarb (Rheum spp.) comes from Asia, particularly Siberia, but has been cultivated by the Chinese for more than 3000 years. It was introduced to Europe from ancient Greece for its medicinal root. Moreover, the name testifies to this introduction, because the word rhubarb comes from the Greek rhabarbarum, which means “barbaric rhubarb”. Here, we must take barbarian in the sense of “foreign”, an indication that she was seen as a novelty coming from a distant country.

The botanical name of the rhubarb in our gardens has just changed, because, following studies on its DNA, we realized that it is of hybrid origin. Therefore, the name still commonly used, R. rhabarbarum, is no longer valid: it should now be called R. x hybridum.

Henry Clark (Rhubarb King)

"Rhubarb King" Henry D. Clark and his daughters crated the sour stalk in the summer of 1914

Henry D. Clark was known as the Rhubarb King of Skagway, Alaska, during the Klondike Gold Rush. Her rhubarb was hard to forget due to its abundance and size.

He had come to Alaska by way of Wisconsin, lured by the promise of gold like so many others, and inspiration came when he saw people suffering from scurvy. Caroline Hill, manager of his original property, said: “We think he may have had rhubarb seeds in his pocket.”

He set up a rhubarb farm to help alleviate a shortage of fresh, local food and was amazed to see the plants grow to giant proportions – some of the leaves photographed were over a meter wide.

The Jewell Gardens, where Clark farmed, still grows his variety of rhubarb, and it also proliferates in the city. Its original lands were requisitioned during World War II, and people harvested rhubarb before it was destroyed.

Even though other fresh fruits and vegetables are more readily available these days, Alaskans still have a soft spot for their huge stalks of rhubarb. It is easy to grow, it is good for health and seems particularly suited to their climate.

The hybridization work of Luther Burbank |

Luther Burbank was successful in developing what he called winter rhubarb suitable for southern California, the Cape of Good Hope, New Zealand and similar climates. Starting with a New Zealand plant that produced petioles during southern California winters, Burbank carried out crosses and selections to develop cultivars that produced much larger stems and "at least ten times as much for each plant » (Burbank 1914). Among his selections was “Crimson Winter Rhubarb.” Although there is little difference between the flavor of red and green stemmed cultivars, red stemmed cultivars are more popular commercially. However, color varies not only along the stem, but also from year to year for a given cultivar. Culinary cultivar breeding efforts now emphasize high yields and low oxalate levels (Libert 1986; Emmerikh 1990; Rumpunen 1996).

A gold medal for the best producer |

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, although it was designated as a fruit in America in 1947 for tax purposes. Its ancestors originally grew on the banks of the Volga or Rha. Chinese herbalists ground the dried roots as early as 2700 BC. Anyone who has ever eaten a big bowl of fresh rhubarb will probably be able to guess the reason. It was used as a purgative. In the 16th century, large sums of money were spent importing gunpowder into Britain from China, Siberia and the Himalayas.

The government was concerned about the amount of silver leaving British shores and in 1763 the London Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce offered a gold medal to the person who could farm the most of plants. The medal was given to Sir William Fordyce, a Scottish doctor, who grew 300 plants and wrote a book about it. By 1815, rhubarb pie had become a popular dessert, although rhubarb did not become truly popular until the sugar tax was repealed in 1874. It takes a lot of sugar. However, one leaf of Chervil (Myrrhis odorata) greatly reduces the amount needed and adds an aromatic flavor similar to fennel.