A load of old rhubarb

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I made mention on my home blog that my rhubarb was green and that I was adding elderberries to it to make it look more 'normal'.  I have seen recipes that added strawberries to give colour.  A few people asked if green rhubarb was safe.

Yes, it is.

The green stemmed rhubarb is a fast growing, thick stemmed hybrid.  Quite safe.

The poisonous element in rhubarb is a chemical called Oxalic Acid and it is found at high levels (0.5%) in the leaves, regardless of the stem colour.

Oxalic Acid is also found in many other plants but not at the levels found in rhubarb leaves.  Excessive Oxalic Acid consumption results in kidney stones (Calcium Oxalate).  A lethal dose of rhubarb leaves is about 5kg.
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Potomatatoes & Acidity

Anonymous asked "Do totatoes can acidity in the body?"

Well, that is not an easy question to answer, as such.

Are we talking potatoes or tomatoes?
Are we talking cancel or cause?

Never mind - I'm guessing that it relates to the much discredited acid-alkaline diet that lingers in the fringe diet circles.   In essence, it proposes that foods are good or bad depending on the pH of a solution of the ash of the food.  The notion that the acidity or alkalinity of the ash of a food will influence the impact that the food has on your body is just plain weird.

There is no scientific data to support the theory.  There is not even a coherent theory.

Your stomach is already 100-1000 times more acidic than a tomato or a potato, so any native acidity will have a negligible impact.  No foods are natively alkaline.

As you body never reduces food to its ash, the properties of the ash are immaterial to human nutrition.

Eat a varied, balanced diet.
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